The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim
by TheChargingRhino
Summary: Link's quest is not over. After returning home from defeating Ganondorf, he finds himself in Skyrim, heading for the chopping block. After narrowly escaping death, Link finds himself caught up in a civil war, disputes between races, and ultimately the task of defeating Alduin, the World-Eater. Will the Hero of Twilight answer the call of the Greybeards? Or will he let Skyrim fall?
1. Arc One - Awakening

_**Legend of the Dragonborn: Chapter 1 - Awakening**_

Horse hooves striking a stone path. A cart of some sort creaking from the strain of being used for so long. The scent of horses and blood (that _was_ blood, right?) and so many other things. The feeling of the sun's rays on his bare skin; a worn wooden plank beneath him.

As his senses slowly came back, the Hero of Twilight quickly grew concerned. He was _not_ where he had been last night.

The last thing he clearly remembered was arriving back home to the quaint little village of Ordon, a fortnight after he defeated Ganondorf and thus saved the Kingdom of Hyrule from ultimate ruin. Now...He had no idea where he was.

Not in Hyrule, _that_ was for certain.

As the Hero of Twilight regained his sight, he found himself bound with rope around his wrists, and that he was...What was he wearing?

...Basically rags? Link mentally scoffed at this. He didn't remember a single thing from the time he had returned home last night to now, but he at least hoped that he had put up a fight before he was subdued.

It was then that he noticed a slight golden glow from the back of his left hand. ...Could it be? _It was._ The Triforce of Courage had somehow returned to him. _How could this be? I defeated Ganondorf, I saw Courage disappear with my own eyes, and now...It somehow returned to me_.

Link tested the rope around his wrists and found that whoever had bound him knew _exactly_ what they were doing. It was then that he noticed that there was someone else sitting on the wooden bench before him and he lifted his head to find himself looking at an older man with blonde hair, scars, and blue eyes.

When the man saw that he was awake, he spoke.

"Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."

Link glanced over to his right and found himself looking at a man dressed in fine clothing. For some reason, this man was gagged. Another man, also wearing rags, was seated across from him.

The Hero of Twilight moved his gaze back to the man before him and he must of looked confused, because the man then said:

"You know...I think they hit you too hard. You look as if you've never heard of the Imperials before."

The other man that was seated before the gagged one joined in.

"Did you see them strike him? I swear, he appeared from nowhere, and he got a little too close to one of the guards. I bet getting hit like that hurt."

The blonde man nodded. "Aye. I heard the guards get into an argument as to what to do with him. Maybe he's from the College of Winterhold and was out on an errand for them."

"Maybe. _Or_ maybe he's from somewhere else entirely. I mean, look at him. Was his mother a Nord and his father an Elf of some sort? Or was it the other way around?"

Link moved his gaze between the two men before him

"You mean you haven't seen a Hylian before?"

The blonde man look at the other one.

"Hylian?"

"Never heard of that race before."

The blonde man moved his gaze back to Link. "Where are you from, lad?"

"Hyrule."

The blonde man gazed at Link for a bit before he spoke again.

"Your accent is strange...Very strange...I'm Ralof. The horse thief besides me is Lokir. And the man in fancy clothing over there is Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King."

Lokir stared at Ulfric. "Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they captured you... Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

Ralof leaned his head back against the cart and closed his eyes.

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."

 _Sovngarde? Is that like their Sacred Realm?_

"What is this...Sovngarde?"

Ralof's eyes snapped open and he sat up.

"That proves that you're not from here. Sovngarde is where all warriors go when they die. There's a huge mead hall there, and you live forever, feasting with the past heroes."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

Ralof nodded. "Aye. Every Nord is allowed to go there after they die. Now...Since you know our names, what's yours?"

Link shifted a bit before he answered - sitting on a wooden bench for so long was not good for you.

"My name's Link. Link Faremanne. I'm...a bodyguard at Hyrule Castle...Or I was before I ended up here...wherever this is..."

Lokir answered this time.

"You're in Skyrim, one of the many provinces of Tamriel. We're near Helgen now."

 _Tamriel...Skyrim...I've never even heard of these places...Just how did I get here?_


	2. Dragon!

_**Legend of the Dragonborn: Chapter 2 - Dragon!**_

The cart slowly neared Helgen. As the cart passed under the bridge/arch, Link saw a bunch of men wearing uniforms nearby.

Ralof glanced over at the leader of this group and signed.

"Look at him, General Tullius the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this."

The man looked around a bit before moving his gaze back to Link.

"This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in. Funny...when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."

As the cart continued to move into the town, Link noticed a small child and his father watching the cart as it passed their home.

For some reason, the father met his gaze and then nodded, then looked down at his son.

"You need to go inside, little cub."

The young boy looked up at his father.

"Why? I want to watch the soldiers!"

The father looked sternly down at his son.

"Inside the house. Now."

He then looked back up towards the cart and Link thought he said:

"Damn this war….No one's safe anymore…Not even outsiders….."

The man looked at the cart for a second, then went back inside his house. At this point, the cart stopped with a jolt and then it was silent.

A feeling of dread was in the air, it had a sense of finality to it, as if this had been the stopping point for so many people.

"All of you, get up and get off the cart. We've got more prisoners to catch."

Lokir was the first one to step off of the cart, as he did so, he began to yell to Ulfric: "You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"

Ulfric only gazed at the man cooly before stepping down off of the cart.

Then Ralof stood up and looked down at Link.

"Stay strong, lad, you might just survive this."

And then he too, was off of the cart.

An Imperial guard stepped up to the cart.

"You there! Get down from there, we have more prisoners to find!"

Link hesitated a second too long because the guard then said.

"Don't make me get up there, boy. You're testing what little patience I have."

It took him a while to actually stand, because he had been sitting for so long, but eventually, he was up and Link made his way to the edge of the cart and stood there, wondering how he was going to get down.

"Hey." It was Ralof. "Lean on me, I'll help you down."

Without warning, Ralof grabbed Link and swung him off the cart, setting his back on his feet not even a moment later.

"There. You can leave now. Go on, go and find more people to kill." Ralof said this to the cart driver and the driver glared at him before walking back to his horses.

There were two people in front of them, a Captain, by the looks or her uniform, and a young man besides her, holding a quill and list.

The Imperial Captain cleared her throat and then said "Step toward the block when we call your name. One at a time!"

 _The block? What is that?_

Link looked over to his left, and wished that he hadn't; a headmas was standing above a chopping block, holding a blood stained axe. A few severed heads were rotting on the ground near the block.

He almost didn't hear Ulfric's name being called. Then it was Ralof's turn to join the others and then it was only Lokir and him left.

Lokir was up next, and as his name was called, the man said "No! I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!" and began to run.

The Imperial Captain yelled at him to stop, but all Lokir yelled in response was "You can't kill me!"

The woman called for her archers and Lokir was shot dead with one arrow.

Link watched Lokir's body hit the dirt and he began to try to think of ways he could get out of his current situation, but he found none.

The Captain yelled out "Does anyone else feel like running?" and then she spotted him.

"Wait. Who are you?"

She actually walked up to Link and stared down at him. The Hero of Twilight felt strange having to look up at a woman, she was tall. Very tall.

"...Odd…You're an Elf of some sort but I can't tell where you're from?"

 _At last I can tell someone that I'm innocent._

"I'm from Hyrule."

The young man had walked up to the Captain and they looked between each other.

"...Hyrule? Have you heard of this place, Hadvar?"

Hadvar shook his head.

"No ma'am, I haven't...I think it's outside of Tamriel!"

The woman's eyes widened and so glanced down at Link

"...Outside of Tamriel? How…."

Another guard walked up to her.

"I bet you're right, he appeared from nowhere at the crossing, when we subdued him, he had this magnificent sword and shield. The sword actually burned me when I touched it, see?" The guard held up banged hands and the Captain motioned for the guard to continue.

"And that mark on his hand ...That's why we bound him like that. Never seen a mark like that in my life."

The Captain nodded and sent the guard away.

"...I see….."

She then looked down at Link again.

"Well ...Now I know where you're from…...Your name?"

Link shifted a bit and then answered.

"My name is Link. Link Farmanne."

Hadvar looked up from his list.

"He isn't on the list ...and if he's from another Kingdom entirely ...what do we do?"

The Captain closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the sky before answering.

"...Forget the list. He was caught…...He goes to the block."

Hadvar looked down at the list again, then up at Link.

"I'm sorry, Outsider. We'll let your people know you what happened to you."

The Imperial Captain walked over to the block "You, get over here."

Link glanced at Hadvar, trying to decide if what he said was true - How would they know how to inform King Girardin of his death, when they didn't even know that Hyrule existed?

In that moment, the Hero of Twilight made up his mind - if he was to die, then so be it. He had fulfilled his destiny as Hero, he was content with that. But yet, there was a nagging thought in his mind: If his destiny had been fulfilled, then why was he sent here? And by whom?

Link was jolted from his thoughts by the Captain. "I said, get over here!"

Link didn't want to find out what would happen if he waited any longer, so he reluctantly made his way over to near Ralof was standing.

The man turned his head towards him as he approached.

"No luck? Figured as much. Well, you tried, that's all that matters, in the end…"

General Tullius walked up to Ulfric and gazed at him, then said: "Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne."

Ulfric said something in protest but it was intelligible by his gag.

Tullius continued: "You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."

Not even a second later, there came a noise from the mountainside.

Hadvar, who was now standing near Tullius and the Captain, looked up at the sky. "What was that?"

Tullius waved a hand. "It was nothing, carry on."

The Captain nodded. "Yes, General Tullius," she then turned to someone dressed in pristal clothing. "Give them their last rites."

The Priestess of Arkay stood up and then began to speak: "As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved-"

While the Priestess was speaking, a Stormcloak warrior stepped forwards and stated: "For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with!"

The Priestess closed her eyes for a moment, as if annoyed, and then nodded.

"As you wish."

The Stormcloak was walked to the chopping block, he was forced to his knees, then a guard walked up and shoved him on to the block with his foot. The headsman then raised his axe and beheaded the man. The helmeted head fell into a bloodstained basket that was covered in flies.

The other prisoners shouted insults, but Link said nothing, because it was then he noticed that the Captain was looking directly at him.

"You. You're next. Don't make this difficult."

But Link couldn't move. He found himself frozen in place.

He heard footsteps behind him and then nothing.

But only for around five seconds.

He distanly heard Ralof yelling "What was that for?! He didn't do anything to you!"

The Captain replied. "He disobeyed an order. _That_ , is enough for me."

When his vision cleared, Link found himself staring up at a masked man holding a blood stained axe. _This_ was the headsman. Of course, there was no emotion shown when one was wearing a mask, but Link could hear the muffled regret in the man's voice as he began to raise his axe. "I'm sorry lad…..But orders are orders...as I'm certain you know…."

Then, from nowhere, a Dragon appeared and landed on the tower behinds the headsman, staggering him.

There were shouts of "DRAGON!" and all kinds of oaths as the beast reared his head.

The Dragon then said something. Whatever it said, it blasted the headsman away, part of the tower came crashing down, and then there was nothing for a short while.

Link wasn't sure how long he laid there for, half stunned, but eventually he heard Ralof calling to him.

"Hey, Link! Get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!"

After a few moments, his vision cleared enough that he could figure out where Ralof was and Link got up and ran over to him. The older man gave him a nod and the two took off through the now ruined village, dodging people and Dragon-Fire as they ran.

Link had overcome a lot during his quest to stop Ganondorf, now, all he could do was to try and get away from this Dragon.

And Gods-Be-Damned if he was going to die today, not after all of this.


	3. Escape From Certain Death

_**Legend of the Dragonborn: Chapter 3 - Escape From Certain Death**_

Ralof led Link to a tower that was somehow still standing. Everyone else that was still alive was there as well.

Ulfric walked over and Ralof began speaking to him.

"Jarl Ulfric! What is that thing? Could the legends be true?"

The tower shook as the dragon flew over it and in the silence that followed, Ulfric spoke.

"Legends don't burn down villages."

The tower shook a second time and dust rained down upon those inside the tower.

Ulfric looked up and then motioned to a flight of stone stairs.

"We need to move, now!"

The tower shook a third time as the group began to walk up the stairs. But then the Dragon burst through the tower wall and breathed fire. Well, it was as if he _said_ something and then breathed fire.

" _ **TOOR SHUL!"**_

A burst of flames came from the beast's maw and everyone was forced back down the stairs a bit.

A few moments later, the Dragon retreated from the tower, possibly to find oher prey.

Ralof was the first one to venture up the stairs again and the others followed.

Once they reached the hole in the wall, the group gazed down upon the scene before them.

"...The tower's unstable."

Ulfric risked stepping to the edge of the tower and surveyed the area.

The man then gestured to a building of some sort that was below them and spoke directly to Link.

"See the inn on the other side? You're going to have to jump to it."

Link gazed down at the inn and then moved his gaze to Ulfric.

" _Jump_? Are you mad?"

Ulfric merely stepped forwards and shoved Link from the tower and towards the inn below.

* * *

Time seems to be infinite when you're falling. But in reality, it only takes a few seconds to land after you begin to fall.  
Link hit the inn's floor hard and stayed where he was for a few minutes, winded. He couldn't get up anyway because of the Dragon circling overhead. The Dragon stopped circling after a minute and went off to find more victims.  
It was almost surreal, the things that were happening to him. Being sentenced to death? It had happened once or twice, but the situation had always been in his control. Not this time. _A Dragon attack?_ This was new.

Link never remembered exactly how he had gotten out of the inn but then he was standing nearby Hadvar.

"Still alive, Outsider? Keep close to me if you want it to stay that way."

He turned to another Imperial.

"Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join the defense."

The boy's father had been killed by the Dragon, it was the same man that had watched them roll into Helgen.

Gunnar nodded and began to lead the boy again, giving a farewell over his shoulder.

Hadvar darted over to a wall and motioned for Link to join him. Then the Dragon appeared and breathed fire.

" _ **VOL TOOR SHUL"**_

"Stay close to the wall!"

The two stayed where they were for a few moments, then ran across the open space over to where everyone else was fighting the Dragon.

General Tullius and Hadvar spoke for a few moments, then Hadvar began to run towards the keep. Link had no choice but to follow due to his current situation.

As they neared the keep, Ralof appeared by himself.

Hadvar began to argue with Ralof over the fact that they both seemed to be fighting on the wrong side of some war.

Link quickly grew annoyed and decided to take over the situation.

"Do both of you want to live, or do you want to die arguing about petty differences?"

After glaring at each other for a few moments, both Ralof and Hadvar seemed to rather want to live than die, and ran across the seemingly one sided battlefield over to Link. To their amazement, he had somehow managed to get both sides to not kill each other and everyone was trying to fight off the Dragon.

"How did you even…?" Hadvar glanced at Ralof for a second before shaking his head and then ran over to the keep door.

"Over here!"

Ralof muttered something about "Imperial dogs" before motioning to Link, and then both of them also ran over to the keep.

Hadvar opened the keep's door and then all three ran inside and the door slammed shut behind them.

* * *

Silence. Well, about as silent as you can get with a Dragon attacking. The Keep shook and dust rained down from the stone ceiling as the Dragon continued his attack on Helgen.

"We…..we made it ...Did...Did anyone else make it or is it just us three?"

Hadvar looked around as he said this and without waiting for a response, walked over to Link.

"Let me see if I can get these bindings off. Figure you've been in them for long enough. Don't move, I don't want to nick you…..Almost got it….."

The rope bindings fell to the stone floor of the keep and Hadvar stood back.

"There you go."

Link flexed his fingers and rubbed his wrists to try to get some circulation back into his hands. As he turned his left hand over, the Triforce of Courage blazed golden for a moment, and then died back down to its normal glow.

 _What was that about? ...It doesn't matter now, I need to get out of here alive._

"Over here." Ralof was standing next to a dead soldier.

As Link walked over to the man, he continued to speak.

You may as well take Gunjar's gear...he won't be needing it anymore. Alright, get that armor on and give that axe a few swings. Meanwhile, Hadvar and I are going to see if we can find some way out of here."

Link studied the armor for a second before he reached out and slowly lifted the helmet off of the still warm corpse. He looked down at the helmet for a second before putting it on.

 _A bit tight. But it's better than no armor at all._

It took some time to don the armor, and not even a second after Link picked up the war axe and had gotten back up then a bunch of soldiers ran into the room. They appeared to be from both sides of this conflict and all of them drew their weapons and started yelling insults.

 _"Wait!"_

Everyone's gaze moved to Link and he froze.

 _Why did I do that…._

"Stay out of this. This doesn't concern you." This was said by an 'Imperial'.

"Actually...It does concern me."

Link walked up to the two warring groups and began to speak.

"Don't all of you want to live? Don't you want to see your families and friends again?"

The Imperial shook his head. "I said stay out of this. You have no idea what this Civil War is like. You don't know the customs and rules of Skyrim or why we're even fighting!"

"Does it matter? We can all get out of here alive if we just work together. Now, we can stand here arguing until the Dragon kills us all, or we can find a way out of here."

Silence. Then Hadvar walked over to Link and nodded.

"He tells the truth. I, for one, want to live, even if it means working with the Stormcloaks. What say you?"

The two factions gazed uneasily at each other before they slowly put away their weapons.

"Fine. We'll fight side by side until we get out of here."

Ralof then came back.

"I found a way out of here, let's move."

It took the group around twenty minutes to clear out the keep. They gained more fighters as they fought their way through the keep and Link was more informed about the current situation: Ulfric Stormcloak, dissatisfied with Imperial rule, rebelled against the High King of Skyrim and challenged him to a duel whereupon he struck the High King down and claimed the right to rule. However, the Imperial Legion stood in his path, and the High Queen herself had very little reason to side with her husband's murderer. With the aid of General Tullius and an understrength Legion, the Stormcloak revolt was beaten down and Ulfric sentenced to a swift execution.

That execution had never taken place.

Link also learned that Dragons hadn't been seen in Skyrim for centuries, and no one knew why one had decided to intervene as the beast did.

Finally, after much fighting, the group made their way down to the caves beneath the keep, where they had more soldiers join them. The group came upon an open room. A giant bear was near the back, sleeping. Everyone grew quiet - Skyrim's bears were not to be messed with.

In a matter of seconds, Link found himself the owner of a bow and 23 pieces of Skyrim's currency - Gold Septims.

"What do you think you're doing? We can just sneak out of here!"

Hissed a soldier near the back of the group.

Link ignored the man and tested the bow's string before stringing an iron arrow and took aim at the bear. A few seconds passed, then he fired the weapon.

The arrow sunk its shaft deep into the bear's head. It never woke up. A second passed, everyone was in shock at what Link had just done, but then everyone started celebrating.

After all, not everyone could kill a bear like that.

After a few minutes, the group died down and raced across the open space, across the underground stream, towards the light and fresh air that was calling them.

And then….. _Freedom_. They were out of the cave, and out of Helgen. _Alive_.


	4. Gregory the Stormcloak

_**Legend of the Dragonborn: Chapter 4 -**_ _ **Gregory the Stormcloak**_ _ **  
**_ **Hello everyone! I hit a roadblock and that is why this has not updated. I got past the roadblock a few hours ago, and this is the result. Sorry for the long wait, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

It took some time to adjust to the twilight sky. There was a noticeable tension in the air, obviously it was because of the two warring factions having to work together. In fact, they appeared to be within seconds of fighting, when a roar echoed across the valley and something _huge_ flew overhead, which caused the group to hide behind various objects or they dropped to the dirt.

After the dragon was gone, Ralof was the first to rise from a crouching position. The others shortly followed and they started to walk forwards.

"I shouldn't really be speculating, but you don't suppose that beast was a male, do you?" Hadvar glanced up at the sky in the direction the dragon had flown off in.  
Ralof grinned.  
"Oh, that dragon was male, alright, did you see the size of his -"

At this point, Link decided to stop listening to the current conversation and he found himself walking next to someone a few moments later.

The person was wearing a wolf pelt as clothing, complete with wolf head as a helmet, but they appeared to be shorter than him.  
"What side are you on?"  
The person gave him a confused look.  
"What?"  
The man had a high pitched voice, a bit surprising, but given the current circumstances it wasn't really a big issue.  
"What side of this civil war are you on?"  
"Stormcloak. You know, I'm surprised that the Imperials haven't tried to kill us yet."  
"Why would they want to?"  
The short man with the high pitched voice stopped walking.  
"I don't know. Can...Can I tell you something?"  
"...I don't even know your name, but I suppose so…"  
The short man lowered his voice.  
"I lied about my age. I'm not a man, I'm only fourteen. What do I even tell people?"

Link stopped walking and glanced towards the others, then down at the boy.  
"If I were you? I'd find whoever you lied to and tell them the truth. Apologize. What's your name?"  
"Gregory. Gregory Shalmet."  
"For someone that lied about their age, you did a damn fine job of hiding it."  
It was Ralof. He had overheard the conversation and had decided to voice his opinion on the matter.

Link looked down at the boy, then back up at Ralof.  
"Do you think Ulfric will still let him be a Stormcloak?"  
"I don't believe so. He's underage, and if word gets out of this, it'll be catastrophic. He is a good warrior, despite what he's been though, he can fight with us when he's older, of course, but not now. Tell you what, we keep quiet about this until we reach Riverwood, then we go from there."  
As Link agreed to this, Gregory glanced towards Hadvar and the others, then up towards Link.  
"Can I speak to you alone?"

* * *

After walking a bit away from Ralof, Gregory looked at the ground for a moment, then took a deep breath and looked up.  
"What do you think they're going to do?"  
Link moved his gaze over to Ralof the others for a moment before returning his gaze back to the boy before him.  
"About your age? I have no idea. You seem capable enough, though."  
Gregory nodded.  
"I bet I can fight better than you!"  
"'Fight better than me' how, exactly?"  
Gregory grinned.  
"Well. I can use a bow, hit any target fifty yards away. I can use a one handed sword or axe, or twin daggers."

 _He's only fourteen and yet he can do all of that?  
_ But all Link said was "Whoever trained you trained you well."  
"Thank you. I never got your name, and can you take off your helmet please?"  
Link nodded, reached up, and took off the Stormcloak helmet.  
"Name's Lincoln Faremanne, but you can call me Link for short, if you want."  
The boy looked thoughtful.  
"I suppose you can call me Greg for short then. What can _you_ do with weapons?"

Link grinned, pulled out the axe, and flipped it around in a complete circle before catching it.  
"What can't I do? Tell you what."  
He turned to a nearby Imperial.  
"May I use your bow for a moment?"  
The man handed it over.  
"Do you also want my arrows…?"  
"What sort of question is that?"  
The man handed over the quiver, and Link notched an iron arrow to the bow, then glanced over at Greg.  
"You say you can hit something at fifty yards?"  
He turned to the man nearby.  
"What would you say is a good target at a hundred yards out?"  
"How about that pine tree down there?"  
"Sounds good to me."  
Link raised the bow, and then fired.

The arrow hit the pine tree squarely in the middle and Link handed the quiver and bow back to the man and glanced towards Greg, who was standing there with his mouth open.  
"How ...How did you do that?!"  
"Practice. Lots and lots of practice."

Ralof walked up.  
"We've decided to make camp here for the night. Hadvar's got a campfire going. Go get some rest. You've certainly earned it."  
Link nodded to Ralof and as he walked past him, the older man clapped a hand on his shoulder.

Once Link had walked far enough away, Ralof looked down at Gregory, who merely said.  
"Can I speak to you?"  
And before Ralof could answer, the boy started to talk. And talk. And talk.  
The more he told Ralof, the darker the man's face grew. He eventually stopped him.  
"Don't you worry about a thing. We'll deal with your father. You have nothing to fear from us."

Gregory nodded.  
"Don't hurt my mother please, it wasn't her fault. He threatened her, too."  
"I understand. Now, go and get some sleep."  
Ralof received a hug from the boy and he ran off towards the fire.  
The man watched him go and then headed off to speak to Hadvar.  
It was time to have a little chat with Frenal Shalmet…..


	5. Welcome to Riverwood

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 5:** **Welcome to Riverwood  
**_ **Yes. Yes, I know I have not updated in a very** _ **very**_ **long time, I hit a severe road block in that I had no idea how this was going to go, but now I do, thanks to fellow FFN user, Xero the Reaper, who is my new beta reader! This story will now have at LEAST 70 chapters, and I'm gonna enjoy writing this. Also, new chapter naming system!**

* * *

The next morning seemed to arrive far too quickly.  
Before Link knew it, everyone had woken up, done various morning things, eaten, and now the group was walking on the dirt path towards some place by the name of Riverwood.  
Ralof and Hadvar were talking to each other about "the times before", whatever that meant, and the two men occasionally pointed out landmarks as they passed them.

Eventually, the group stopped on the path and both Ralof and Hadvar pointed out a massive black structure in the distance.  
"See that thing way out there? That's Bleak Falls Barrow. Hadvar told me once that he used to have nightmares when he was young about it."  
"So did you!"  
Ralof shook his head.  
"There's a lot of rumors about Bleak Falls. Nothing good has ever come of it, supposedly those ruins are crawling with undead."

Link gazed up at the towering arches in the distance.  
"How did they create all of that?"  
"No one knows. With their bare hands, most likely. Come on, we've lingered here for far too long."  
Hadvar started to walk down the path and the others soon followed.

Around two minutes later, five wolves of various ages and coat colors stepped from the trees on the right side of the dirt path and gazed at the group for several seconds, before looking at Link. The wolves titled their heads back for some reason, howled, and then trotted back into the trees, as if they had never been there to begin with.  
"What was that?"  
Ralof looked confused and so did everyone else besides Link.  
The Stormcloak shook his head and continued walking.

After a while, the group reached three stones, facing each other on a flat rock.  
"These three stones? These are the Guardian Stones. It's said that when you get close to one, if it choose you, you gain some of its power. Go on, walk up to one and see what it does."

As Link stepped up to the first one, Ralod stated what it was.  
"That one is the Warrior stone, it supposedly makes you stronger in battle. The one to your left if the Thief stone, makes it easier to do various thieving things. The one on your right is the Mage, which helps your magic, if you've got any."

Link hesitated, then reached out and laid his left hand on the "Warrior" stone. It felt cold, and there was something carved into it. The stone started to glow, and then it flashed blue, revealing that the carving was someone holding a war axe and shield; then the stone flashed again and shot a blue light into the sky, punching the clouds. As the light died and the stone went silent, Link felt some sort of energy surge through him and he stepped back from the stone.

"Well? Did it work?" Hadvar crossed his arms and tilted his head back a bit.  
"I believe so...I do feel stronger."  
Ralof grinned. "Well done. I'd like to stay and see if you can choose more than one stone, but we really must be going, we've wasted enough time as it is."  
Once again, the group started walking.

There was obvious tension in the air due to the fact that two opposing sides were so close to each other. Hadvar and Ralof looked nervous, as if the other soldiers from both sides would start fighting at any given moment.  
Link ignored them and merely focused on his surroundings. Skyrim appeared to be mostly like Hyrule, with vast forests and dirt paths. Strangely, he felt right at home here.

After around ten more minutes of yet even more walking, something came into view.  
There was a gate in the distance, guards standing on the balcony. The group had reached Riverwood at last.

* * *

A lot of things happened in quick succession after that. First, the group was surrounded by guards and Ralof had to explain what was going on before the guards attacked everyone. Second, the group slowly disbanded and various soldiers from both sides either returned home in Riverwood or stayed for a bit and then left to go do other things. Third, both Ralof and Hadvar gave Link a tour of Riverwood, then took him to the Riverwood Trader, where the three of them heard muffled yelling from inside the building.  
"Well one of us has to do something!"

"We are done talking about this."

"Well what are you going to do then, huh? Let's hear it!"

"I said no!..."  
Hadvar, Ralof, and Link merely shared a confused glance, before Ralof opened the door and they entered the building, only to find that a man named Lucan Valerius was arguing with his sister, Camilla, over something.  
Lucan shook his head.  
"...No adventures, no theatrics, no thief-chasing!"  
He then noticed that they had company.  
"Oh, customers. Sorry you had to hear that."  
Ralof waved a hand.  
"It's alright, Lucan, now what's all this about?"  
Lucan only said in response, "Yes, we did have a bit of a... _break-in_. But we still have plenty to sell. Robbers were only after one thing. An ornament, solid gold. In the shape of a dragon's claw." before he went back to arguing with his sister.

There was a flight of wooden stairs to Link's left. Various food items and plants hung over a fireplace in front of him, while a table and chairs were before the fireplace. To the right of the fireplace was the counter, filled with various displayed merchandise. Behind Lucan was shelves with even more merchandise. At the right side of the room were cabinets and shelves that had more merchandise.

Link waited for a bit before walking up to the counter and rapped the counter once with the axe's pommel. That got Lucan's attention.  
"I'm terribly sorry, it's just that the two of are at our wits end here. Is there something I can help you with?"  
"I can get this... _Claw_ back for you, if you want."  
Lucan's face lit up.  
"You would?! Oh, this is fantastic! I shall pay you four hundred Septims if you can bring it back in one piece. Of course, I will gladly give you supplies before you go."  
Link nodded, then got an idea.

The Hylian took out his Rupee satchel from the near infinite satchel he had - for some reason it hadn't been taken from him - and then emptied it completely onto the counter - twenty five Rupees in all, 5 green, purple, orange, red, and light blue gems.  
"I'd like to exchange all of these for Septims."  
Lucan's face lit up even more and he started nodding frantically.  
"I shall give you seven thousand, one hundred Septims for all of them."  
"I'll take it."  
The twenty five Rupees were exchanged for Septims, then Lucan told Link that he would receive a ten percent discount on whatever supplies he wanted to buy for the trip to Bleak Falls Barrow.

The Septim amount at the end of the transaction - after subtracting from his total Septim count at the time - was six thousand, five hundred and seventeen.  
Link ended up buying three Iron Arrows for 3, two Potion of Minor Healing, for 17 each so 34, one Potion of Minor Magicka for 20, one Potion of Regeneration for 380, one Potion of Resist Fire for 96, two loaves of bread for 4, three Eidar Cheese Wheels for 13 each so 39, one Potion of Cure Disease for 79, and one iron sword for 25.  
After this, he tested the iron sword, found it was to his liking, thanked Lucan and his sister for their hospitality, then traveled with Ralof to his sister's house. His sister was named Gerdur, she had a husband named Hod, and a son named Frodnar

The house was nice enough. It was in an L shape, with a dining and cooking area on his left, and bedrooms and a bar on his right. However, Link didn't have time to walk around the house and see everything, because he suddenly felt extremely tired. Ralof must have noticed this, because the man walked him over to a bed, and then he was pitching forwards -

* * *

Ralof caught Link as he fell, moved him so he would sleep more comfortably, then walked over to the table where his sister and brother-in-law were sitting and sat down.  
"So, Ralof, I heard you and the boy escaped a dragon attack?"  
Ralof nodded.  
"We did. He somehow convinced those Imperials that traveled with us to cooperate."  
"Did he now?" Hod stroked his chin in thought for a second before leaning forwards a bit.  
"He a Wood Elf? Bosmer?"  
"No, he says his people are named Hylians."  
"Hi-lee-ans?"  
"Yes. Hylians. He says that he's from a land named Hyrule, and that it's most likely past the Summerset Isles, to the West."  
Hod nodded.  
"How old would you say he is? He's not eighteen, I could tell that as soon as I laid eyes on him."  
Ralof leaned back in his chair a bit.  
"You know, he never told me. I'd say he's around either sixteen or seventeen."  
Gerdur drummed her fingers on the table in thought before speaking.  
"Well he's certainly well mannered. I heard he took up Lucan's offer to go get that claw of his back?"  
Ralof nodded.  
"Yes, Hadvar and I are going with him."  
"Hadvar? You mean the Hadvar you used to run around with when you were a boy?"  
"Yes. I suppose we've been trying to reconcile, it feels as if our friendship has returned, at least somewhat."

Just then, Ralof was interrupted by something. A black and white wolf with blue eyes was standing near the table, merely looking up at him. Ralof grabbed the sword above the fireplace and held it in case the wolf attacked. Hod grabbed the handle of his axe while Gerdur jumped in her chair from shock.  
"Hello, how did you get in here?"  
The wolf wasn't talking, obviously, and Ralof shook his head, then lowered the sword a bit.  
"Well, as long as you don't attack us, I suppose we'll get along just fine."  
The wolf walked over to the door, sat down beside it, and eyed Ralof with a slightly impatient look.  
"So you need to go out, do you?"  
Ralof got up from where he had been sitting, crossed the room, opened the door, and watched the wolf calmly walk outside.  
Hod had gotten up and was now standing beside Ralof.  
"Well behaved for a wolf, isn't he?"  
The two men watched in silence as the wolf walked to the edge of the porch, looked down at the steps for several seconds, slowly walked down them, then disappeared from view around the side of the house.  
Ralof and Hod shared a glance, then the two men decided to follow the wolf and see what they did.  
However, when they walked around to the back of the house, the wolf was gone, but standing there on the dirt path, barefoot, unarmed, silently looking up at the blazing lights in the sky, was Link.  
"First time seeing Skyrim's Aurora?"

The Hylian whirled around, spraying dirt everywhere as he did so, and looked as if he was ready to fight someone. Then he saw Ralof and Hod and visibly relaxed a bit.  
"Ralof! What are you doing out here?"  
The man merely crossed his arms.  
"I could ask you the same question."  
Link began to look everywhere except towards the two men.  
"I..I was...Ah...I was just…"  
"You know what?" Hod glanced sideways at Ralof "I think he was that wolf that we saw."  
Ralof tilted his head to the side a bit in thought.  
"Perhaps. He certainly is avoiding my question, isn't he?"  
"You asked me two questions. The answer to both is yes."  
Hod nodded.  
"I knew it. Look, we aren't mad at you for not telling us before, about the wolf bit, we're alright with that."  
Ralof also nodded.  
"Other people might have seen you."  
"I didn't even think about that. Do you think they'll do anything?  
Hod looked up at the blazing lights overhead for a moment.  
"Who knows? I suppose as long as you can control that transformation of yours, it'll be fine. Now, about the Aurora, it's been in the sky as anyone can remember. It changes colors and shapes depending on what time of the year and at night it is, and the location of where you are in Skyrim."  
Ralof was about to add on to what Hod had said, but was interrupted by a loud scream and then drunken shouting.

* * *

There were six guards trying to pull apart a Nord and Bosmer, who were drunkedly trying to hit each other. The two men were yelling various insults, such as "milk drinker" and "son of a horker" but those weren't the main problem - it making sure that Camilla was safe, for she was currently sitting on the ground, in between the Bosmer and Nord, unable to move.  
"Alright, alright, I've had enough of you two!" Hod ran up and shoved the two men apart, then started to yell at both of them. "Sven, Faendal, this has gone on for long enough!"  
The two men shoved their captors back and then the Nord knocked Hod to the ground. Ralof ran up, as did two guards, and the three tried to deal with the two drunken men while the other three guards helped Hod up. While everyone seemed to distracted, Link darted over, ducked under the fighting men, and helped Camilla up.  
The two shared a glance, then Camilla darted away, towards the porch of the Riverwood Trader, where Lucan was standing. They seemed to talk for a bit, before Lucan ran towards the fight and helped deal with the drunken men.

Somehow, no one was injured, the guards took Sven and Faendal to the Inn to "think things over", while Lucan thanked Ralof, Hod, and Link for their efforts. To their shock, he then offered to give them two hundred extra Septims in addition to the additional four hundred.  
"Here. I just so happen to have it on me."  
He was holding a small cloth pouch filled with said two hundred Septims. Ralof reached out to take it, but hesitated.  
"How about we split it three ways, of course, one would get one extra."  
Hod nodded.  
"Personally, since Link's the one who got Camilla out of harm's way, it should all go to him."  
Link seemed to reluctantly accept the two hundred Septims before the two Valerius' returned to the building for the night.  
"Should we leave for Bleak Falls now or in the morning?"  
Ralof shook his head.  
"It'd be a death sentence trying to head there now. We leave in the morning, around sunrise. Are you returning with us?"  
"No, not yet, at least. I'd like to stay up a while longer."  
"Well, stay up if you want, Ralof and I are heading back to the house."  
The guards started to return to their posts as the two men left Link and returned to Hod's house.

The young Hylian stood on the porch of the Riverwood Trader for a minute, then walked to the edge, jumped down, then started to walk towards the stone bridge in the distance. When he neared it, he didn't cross it, but instead walked over to a tree, looked up at it for a moment, then jumped upwards and grabbed the lowest branch. Link then pulled himself up, then continued to climb the tree until he was near the top. Beyond the bridge was a stone path that lead in two directions. He decided that the path to the left had to lead to Bleak Falls, but the right one seemed to disappear in places, for there were hills and valleys covered in various grasses, trees, and wildflowers.

Link then sensed something above him and he looked up, only to see a massive thing flying overhead. It was a dragon, and it appeared that he had been the only one to notice the beast. Strangely enough, Link felt as if he wanted to spit fire, to freeze things, to summon storms and wind, to fly, and to stand above all those who exist - the feelings were gone, for the dragon had flown out of sight behind a nearby mountain.  
 _What was that? Why was I able to sense the Dragon before seeing it? And those things I felt, why did I feel them? ...I think I'll dwell on this tomorrow, something tells me getting that Golden Claw will take a few hours. Or ten._  
The Hylian looked up at the Aurora for as long as he could, before he eventually drifted off.


	6. Retrieving the Claw

**_The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 6:_ **_**Retrieval of the Claw  
**_ **To make things more interesting, Link will be in his Wolf form for parts of this chapter. Of course, this means you'll see an entirely new and different side of him. Enjoy!**

* * *

The first thing he realized was that he was once again a wolf. The second was that he was still in the tree. The third was a sudden jolt of pain on his nose, then the wolf dimly realized that he was falling, then he hit the ground, and rolled over a few times before he came to rest on his side.  
Link lay there for a while, getting his breath back, before he moved to a sitting position and gazed up at the dawning sky.  
 _This is an inconvenience. How long will I stay like this? And does the rest of Riverwood know that I can become a wolf, or just Hod and Ralof?  
_ Link shook his head, got up, padded over to the river, drank from it - at the same time soothing his stung nose - then spotted Ralof and Hadvar on the stone bridge and trotted over to meet them.

* * *

"Well? Where is he? He should have been here an hour ago."  
Ralof knew he wouldn't get an answer from Hadvar, but yet he asked his friend anyway.  
The two men were on their horses, on the stone bridge, and they had been waiting for Link to show up.  
Hadvar noticed a black and white wolf trotting up to them, and he drew his sword and got down from his horse, then swung the blade at the beast.  
"Back! For all I know, you'll call for your pack and we'll both die!"  
The wolf yelped with shock and leapt backwards, but didn't run away.  
Instead, the beast merely gazed up at Hadvar as if he were cheese brained and shook his furry head.  
Hadvar took a step towards the wolf and raised his sword again, then brought it down, only for his blade to hit Ralof's iron war axe.

Hadvar's arms went numb from the force of the hit and he raised his gaze to his friend, who merely gazed back at him

"Hadvar." Ralof's voice was soft for once, "The wolf before you is Link, if you do not believe me, look at his left front paw."  
And true to Ralof's word, there was a mark there. Hadvar narrowed his eyes, trying to place it.  
Yes! Yes, he _had_ seen it before, back in Helgen, before the Dragon...  
Ralof seemed to be waiting for him to answer and the Imperial lowered his sword.  
"Link?"  
The wolf visibly reacted; his black ears perked up and he raised his head a bit towards Hadvar.  
"So it _is_ you." The man felt a smile form on his face and he put away his sword, then knelt down and held out a hand.

The young wolf hesitated, then he padded up to Hadvar and lowered his head to rest in the man's head for a few moments, then lifted it and trotted away towards the other side of the stone bridge.  
Hadvar watched the wolf for a moment, then gazed at Ralof.

"He got stung by something, did you see that? I don't think he's going to have an easy time breathing through his nose for a while."  
"He'll be fine."

Link stopped, then half turned towards the two men, his cerulean eyes bright with excitement.

"I think he wants to race us, Ralof. What do you say?"  
Ralof shook his head.  
"He'd win. He's young, and a _wolf_."  
"Still wouldn't hurt to try."  
Hadvar kicked at his horse and took off after Link, who had already started down the left path of the fork. Ralof sighed, shook his head, then grinned as he too headed after the black and white wolf.

* * *

The three of them reached the tower that was near Bleak Falls around an hour later. Two bandits were outside, and as soon as they saw the three appearoch, they got up from where they had been sitting and ran inside the tower.  
Link didn't need anyone to tell him to start fighting, for the wolf raced after the two bandits and caught the second one as he cleared the threshold, sinking his sharp fangs into the man's leg. The man screamed and kicked at Link with his free leg but the beast held on, glaring up at the man as he was swung from side to side.

Then Ralof and Hadvar joined the fray and it quickly became a one sided battle.  
Hadvar struck a woman in the chest with his sword, Ralof killed two with his axe, and Link killed the remaining three, which included the one he had bit on the leg. The entire fight lasted no more than five minutes, and when it was over, Ralof and Hadvar looked around for supplies while Link ate whatever could find, as he had not had breakfast that morning and was starving.  
After five minutes of searching, the three left the tower and continued to walk towards Bleak Falls.

* * *

As the three neared the top of the snowy mountains, the snow increased in density. After minutes of walking the whole ground was covered in snow with nothing green in sight.

Ralof watched as the wolf's demeanor changed immediately. Fur visibly started to rise on the back of his neck, he was staring at something him and Hadvar couldn't see yet, his fangs were bared, he was growling, and he was frozen in place.  
"What is it?"  
In response, Link lowered himself to the snow, waited a moment, then pounced. Blood sprayed in the air as a scouting bandit was bitten in the throat and thrown to the ground. Bleak Falls was just visible through the snow fall, and it's black obsidian arches towered over the two men and wolf.  
Hadvar knelt down next to the dead bandit and studied him.  
"He must be a scout. If Bleak Falls Barrow is occupied with bandits, then we must be close."  
He looked up.  
"Yes, we are close, see those arches up there? We can't be more than five minutes away."

The three continued walking until they had reached the foot of the steps.  
"Now, we need to be careful not to be seen, if we're quiet enough, I think we can sneak past whatever is up here with us."  
Ralof froze as five bandits appeared, each of them wearing furred armor and wielding weapons.  
The Nord swore, then glanced at Hadvar.  
"Do you remember when we were mere boys? The two of us would have target practice…"  
Hadvar nodded, eyeing the five bandits.  
"Yes. We would practice for hours."  
"Would you like to see if all those hours paid off?"  
"You know I would."  
The two men drew their bows as one, notched an iron arrow to each one, then fired. Two of the bandits went down, while the other three scattered.  
Link sprung up from where he had been hiding and bit one in the leg, sending the man down on to the snow, where the wolf killed him with a throat bite.  
He then darted after another one, but Ralof shot the woman first and killed her instantly. While Hadvar shot the other one, the wolf spotted a lone figure dart from the shadows and run up the steps. The black and white wolf darted after the man, gained speed, then launched himself at the man's chest. He connected, caused the man to fall, and the two rolled for a bit until they landed on the stone floor before the giant twin black doors. The wolf continued to roll a bit, the bandit watched curiously as the beast turned a solid black and then froze as he found himself looking at an elf of some sort.

Link and the lone bandit gazed at each other for a full five seconds, then the bandit got up and ran for the door with the strange symbol on it.  
Link got up from where he had fallen and reached for his sword, then decided against it.  
 _I need a bow._  
He took a step backwards, felt something against his right boot, blindly kicked it over his head and he caught it in his left hand.  
It was in fact a bow, furthermore, it had a single arrow already notched.

Link raised the bow to his right shoulder, made sure the arrow was firmly notched, then pulled back on the arrow with his left hand, the Triforce of Courage suddenly blazing with golden light.  
It was nearly silent for a few seconds, save for the sounds of muted fighting and his own breathing, then the Hylian let go of the arrow.  
It sailed through the air, whistling as it did so, and it struck the lone bandit in the neck. The man grabbed at his throat, then collapsed, never to rise again.

But Link had no time to dwell on what he had just done, because four bandits appeared, keeping him trapped against the barrow's outer wall.  
"What the matter, kid? Scared?" One bandit drew two blood stained daggers and twirled them around in his hands.  
"I can fight all of you."  
Link tossed away the bow and drew his sword, then kicked a shield over his head and he caught it with his right hand. The iron shield was off balance a bit, but it would do for now.  
No one moved for a second, then the four bandits charged.

Link ducked under one, then struck one bandit in the head with the shield, sending the man down to his knees. He kicked the man's weapons away and turned his attention to the one that had the twin daggers. The man flipped them in his hands again, then darted towards Link, who kicked one of the daggers from his right hand, then used his sword to knock the other one to the ground, then pointed the sword towards the man's throat.  
"I'll let you live if you leave now."  
The man eyed him for a second, then looked past him at something. Link half turned, only to be struck on the head by an axe pommel.

* * *

Gaden eyed the young elf as he swayed for a moment, dropped his sword and shield, then fell to a kneeling position. He raised a hand to stop Makla from attacking again, picked up his daggers, then knelt down in front of the boy.  
"I'm not going to kill you."  
The elf eyed him nervously, his blue eyes slightly gazed over.  
"You're not? You have every right to do so."  
Gaden shook his head.  
"No. You fought bravely, I commend that. Besides, you're just a boy, what are you doing out here?"  
"We were...Looking for the Golden Claw?"

Gaden frowned.

"...If you mean that thing in Riverwood, we didn't take it."  
"What?"  
"We. Did. Not. Take. It. This is all that thief's fault, Arvel the Swift, curse him. If you really want to get that Claw back, he ran inside. His lackeys are in there, too, my force was just out here, as a guard."

Makla appeared, right behind the boy, and before Gaden could stop her, she drew her sword and ran it through his left shoulder.  
The elf grew pale, then his blue eyes rolled backwards into his head and he pitched forwards to land on the stone, out cold. A pool of blood slowly began to appear around the stabbed shoulder.  
Makla pulled the bloodied sword from the boy's left shoulder.  
"That won't kill him either."

Gaden glared at the woman.  
"I was merely talking to him, you had no right to do that!"  
Makla wiped off the blood onto a fallen bandit's clothing and smirked.  
"I bet the boy hasn't been in any real battles before this. It was a good wake up call, don't you think?"  
Gaden bared his teeth and threw a dagger at Makla, who dodged it, then pressed her sword against the back of the boy's neck, drawing blood.  
"Don't you dare!"  
The woman smiled before easing up on her sword.  
"And you feel so close to this elf, why?"  
Gaden set his jaw.  
"Because he's around the same age as my son!"  
"And that's all?" Makla shook her head. "Gaden, this boy killed our men, he deserves to die!"  
"No. No he doesn't. I know this was his first battle, and he fought bravely. Step away from him, Makla, or you shall be the one who dies."  
The woman eyed Gaden for a bit, then stepped forwards, sword raised to kill the boy - a dagger appeared in the middle of her chest, and then she looked up towards Gaden, who had his arm outstretched.  
"I did warn you."  
Makla screamed, pulled the dagger from her chest, threw it down, then threw her sword towards Gaden. The weapon pierced his chest and the two bandits fell at the same time, one dead, one barely still alive.

Gaden watched as two men approached him, weapons drawn, and he held up a hand.  
"What is it? Did you do this?"  
"To the boy? No, I saved his life. The woman tried to kill him. What is his name? His first will do."  
The brown haired Nord spoke, while another Nord fed the boy a healing potion. Gaden was glad to see his wounds begin to heal.  
"Link."  
Gaden nodded.  
"A fitting name. I want Link to have my daggers, they saved my life too many times for me to count, I hope they save his."  
Gaden reached into his coat and took out a small ring, thought about giving it to Ralof, then decided it wouldn't be right. He sensed that Link was now awake, and so he tossed the ring through the air and hoped it landed near the boy.  
"Tell him...My name was Gaden."  
He smiled with a fierce pride and joy. He may have been dying, but he had saved Link's life, and for this, he would be welcome in Sovngarde.  
He raised his gaze to the two younger men.  
"I hope to see you walking there someday."  
After a moment, he added, mostly for Link, "My son's name is Fernas, he lives in Rorikstead."  
The blonde Nord laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm certain he would be very proud of you."  
Gaden nodded, then his eyesight faded and everything was gone.

Further down the steps, the prone form finally moved a bit, but Ralof and Hadvar paid no mind, as they were building a carin for the redeemed bandit.  
Link's vision finally cleared and it centered on the small ring lying in the palm of his left hand. Silver wolf heads were inlaid on a sapphire band with two golden bands around each side of the ring, and several Nordic runes were carved into the inside.

 _I'll get this ring to your son, Gaden.  
_ Link raised his gaze to the stone pile, Ralof and Hadvar were walking towards him now, and his gaze moved from the stone pile to the two blood soaked daggers that lay in the bloodied snow next to him.  
 _I promise._

* * *

Link was bored out of his mind. Sure, they had managed to sneak past two bandits in the entrance hall, raid chests for various items, avoid being killed by the arrow trap, figured out the combination to open the door through trial and error - it was Snake Snake Whale - but the next room at least was interesting.  
There was some sort of book on a table. Link approached the book, which was named _Thief_ , and, thinking about it, he picked up the book and decided to take it with him for further reading later.

Link left Ralof and Hadvar in the one room and ventured down the stairs. Three rodent like creatures - Skeevers - screamed and launched themselves in his direction. Link simply kicked them away and kept on walking down the small corridor to a table.  
Some sort of potion and a rolled up scroll rested on the table, and Link picked up the potion first and examined it.

 _Paralysis potion? Now this is useful._  
He set the potion down and picked up the scroll, there was a red seal on it that read _Fireball_ , Link knew it was some sort of magic and wondered if he could even use it. Still, it could be useful in the future.  
He took the two items with him, dodged the three Skeevers, and ended back in the spell tome room a few moments later.

Then, the three of them heard a voice. It was faint, but it was there.

"Is... is someone coming? Is that you Harknir? Bjorn? Soling? I know I ran ahead with the claw, but I need help!"  
Ralof ran over to a door, only to find it be blocked by spider webs.  
"Help me cut these down, won't you?"

Link drew his sword, nodded to Ralof, then started cutting webs.

"What do you think, Hadvar, you think that's our thief?"  
Hadvar nodded to Ralof.  
"Yes. Let's find him and get this over with, I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary!"

* * *

"That voice is closer."  
"You think he'd stop or something, he's been talking non stop for at least ten minutes."  
Link ignored the two Nords as he continued to cut spider webs. It really hadn't been ten minutes, had it? It felt like it, at least.  
Finally, then were in an open room, it appeared to be empty for a moment, then they heard someone yelling to their left.  
Hadvar gestured to a man that was hanging upside down in a spider web, behind a locked barred door. "That's him."  
The man yelled something, something about "it's coming", whatever _that_ meant.

Link took a step forward, gazing at the man trapped behind the spider web with confusion.

"What do you mean? 'It's coming'?"  
The man didn't get to answer, because Link felt as if something was behind him, and he half turned, only to feel a searing pain in his right shoulder. Cursing, he dropped to one knee, and the iron sword clattered to the dirt beside him as he grabbed his injured shoulder. His vision seemed to double a second later, and then he saw _it_.  
A massive spider, fangs bared, some legs raised, something dripping from its fangs…  
 _...Poison!  
_ Something was wrong, the poison was quickly taking its toll, and, judging by the other displaced skeletons around the room, whoever hadn't healed themselves had died horrible deaths. But yet…  
He had something none of the others had.

A wolf appeared where Link had been a moment later, which then fell to the ground and started thrashing around due to the poison. Yet, the thrashing slowed, as if the beast's neurotoxins were somehow flushing out the poison.  
Still trying to get his legs and paws underneath him, the wolf growled, then it rose to a snarl.  
No. He would _not_ die here. Not today, not against a giant Faring _spider_ of all things! Summoning some kind of hidden strength, Link leapt to his paws and raced across the stone room, bent down, then launched himself towards the giant spider, who turned to face him, _her_ eyes beady eyes locked onto him.  
" _Why do you fight? My venom pulses through your veins, sapping your life force."  
_ She was mocking him!  
Link didn't reply, because then his claws were digging into the beast's back, his bloodied fangs trying to find purchase on the arachnid's throat.  
" _The only one who shall die today is you!"_ he snarled as he bit down harder. The spider started screaming and started to thrash around.  
His plan was working! Hadvar and Ralof rushed in, hacking at the giant spider until the thing pitched forwards, Link jumping off at the last second, and the three watched the arachnid's death throes.  
Then, it was silent.

Hadvar and Ralof walked over to the man and the two tried to figure out how to free him when the two heard a particular sound. The two men half turned, only to see the wolf marking the spider's corpse, his cerulean gaze locked with Ralof's brown, as if he was daring him to do something.  
Ralof smiled a bit. "You just couldn't wait, could you?"  
The beast's gaze became uncertain for a moment, before it settled into a smug look and Ralof grinned, shook his head, then motioned to Hadvar to help him destroy the spider web.

Of course, none of them expected the man to simply run away from them afterwards, but they found him dead, pinned to the right wall by a massive spike trap. Somehow, the Golden Claw was unharmed and Link picked it up with his fangs. There were three raised symbols on the claw - a bear, moth, and an owl, in that order. Link determined it could be useful later.  
Then all of the torches in the room went out.

Link set down the Golden Claw and padded forwards, all of his senses on edge. He didn't near anything besides the three of them breathing, then he heard something shuffling towards him. Thanks to his night vision, he saw the thing a second later.  
An undead person was stumbling towards him, wearing armor.

 _Is this Skyrim's version of a ReDead?_  
Link was proven wrong by Ralof yelling "Draugr!" and the wolf dashed to the side as the monster drew a long sword and swung it at him.  
 _Need to be careful...Attack from the side…_  
Link darted forwards, and swiped a paw at the creature's right side, but it didn't do anything except make it grab him and toss him further down the hallway.

When Link finally rolled to a stop, three more Draugr rose from coffins and started to stumble towards him, and he rose to his - feet.  
He was back to normal.  
The Hylian reached for his sword but it was gone, along with the iron shield he had briefly had in his possession. However, he remembered the twin daggers, and drew them both, flipped them around so they were facing the right way, and then finally saw what they looked like.  
The fire dagger had various runes carved into the flat blade, which was around six inches long and ended in a sharp point. The runes were also on the curved crossguard, and the entire dagger seemed to be on fire, but yet the heat didn't hurt - it felt almost welcoming.  
Then he remembered the draugr and lowered the fire dagger, but the creatures hadn't attacked him. No, there were merely hovering there, as if they were waiting.

 _What are they waiting for?_  
Since they seemed to not be attacking him, Link inspected the other dagger. This one was made of ice, and, again, the ice didn't hurt him.  
 _Interesting. I wonder what happens when I do_ this.  
Link slammed the two daggers together and the two weapons shot out a mixed shockwave of fire and ice that caused the three Draugr to become ash piles.  
"...That was entertaining."  
The daggers had faded to a subdued glow.  
 _Is that normal? I'll have to speak to Ralof and Hadvar about this, maybe they will know something.  
_ Ralof walked up holding some sort of book.  
"Looks like our 'friend' left a journal. Says something about a hidden power here somewhere. It also says that the Golden Claw was from here, and that it involves some sort of door."  
Then Hadvar walked up.  
"You fight well. I think we should still press forward. Don't worry about the trap, it's been disarmed."

* * *

"You want me, to run through that."  
The three were looking at some sort of blade trap that blocked their path.  
Ralof nodded. "Yes. You're swifter than the two of us, you'll be fine."  
Link noted that there was an opening between the blades, and took a step forward, ran past the first one, then stopped.  
 _I can wait here until the next one passes. This isn't that difficult.  
_ Link dodged the second and third blades, stepped out into the next room, then noticed a chain on the wall. He pulled on it, and the blades stopped moving.  
The two Nords joined him a few seconds later and they pressed on.

The three soon found themselves fighting the Draugr in a very inclosed space. That wasn't the only problem - the floor was slick with oil. The daggers weren't working for whatever reason, but they could still be used as normal weapons. Link darted forwards, stabbed one of the Draugr in the chest, then fell due to how slick the floor was. The fire dagger fell from his grasp and landed a few feet away, then rolled up to a Draugr, who merely looked down at it before the oil caught fire. There seemed to be an explosion of fire, and the second Draugr died instantly, while the third one walked into the fire and turned into an ash pile. After the fire died down, Link got up, picked up the fire dagger, Ralof and Hadvar joined him, and the three continued walking.

A minute later, the room opened up into a natural cavern. Sunlight cast light through a massive hole in the ceiling and a waterfall was on their left.

A lone Draugr appeared from a coffin and Hadvar killed it.  
"Well, what do we do now?"  
Ralof received his answer when he caught movement before the waterfall.  
"There's something down there, what is it?"  
Link was standing close to the edge of the waterfall, the thing down there was covered in fur, it had three eyes, and it looked as if it could put up a fight.  
 _It looks like it could be a Hinox_.  
"To answer your question, that is a frost troll."  
Ralof paused.  
"Hadvar, I bet we can kill it up here with arrows."  
Hadvar nodded and drew his bow, Ralof drew his, then Hadvar turned to Link.  
"If you have a bow, you can stay here with us, or go down there and help us finish the thing off that way."  
"Never mind, I found an extra one, here."  
Ralof handed a spare bow to Link, and soon, a barrage of arrows were hitting the frost troll.

The troll picked up a rock and threw it up at the three archers, but they dodged the attack.

Link hesitated, stopped firing his bow, drew the fire dagger, then threw it.  
It struck the troll in the third eye, which was centered on its forehead.  
The thing roared, threw another rock, which the three also dodged, and then started shooting arrows again.  
The frost troll fell over two minutes later, finally dead.  
The two Nords and Link found a way to get down to the frost troll.  
Hadvar knelt by the troll.  
"I heard from some alchemist in the army that trollfat is a useful potion ingredient and trolls are hunted for that."

The Nord drew a dagger and extracted a bowl of the troll fat so it wouldn't waste.  
Link retrieved the fire dagger from where he had thrown it, then the three walked into the next room, where a long Draugr was waiting.  
After the lone Draugr finally fell, Ralof, Hadvar, and Link reached the Sanctum.

* * *

There was another blade trap, which they skirted around with ease.  
After a few minutes of walking, they entered a well lit room, as soon as they did so, the lid of a coffin on their left flew off its hinges and a Draugr climbed out and started walking towards them. Ralof killed it, but that got the attention of three other Draugr.  
Link didn't say anything to Hadvar and Ralof about the daggers returning to their supposedly natural glow, he had a feeling that the shockwave would work now, so he tried it. It sent them back a few feet but didn't kill them. Link looked up and saw the lit oil lamps up there, he quickly tossed the fire dagger at one of them, which fell, ignited the oil slick the Draugr were standing in, and they dissolved into ash piles.

After walking for around two minutes, the three happened upon a locked door.  
Ralof grinned.  
"I've heard about these. They're called Claw doors. The locking mechanism is controlled by three concentric circles: each is marked with animal symbols and can be rotated. Maybe that Golden Claw fits this door."  
Hadvar stepped back as Ralof handed Link the Golden Claw, the Hylian then stepped up to the door, inspected the claw, then reached up and turned the highest circle until he had the symbol of a bear. There was a subtle _click_ , as if something had unlocked. Link turned the other two circles to moth and owl, respectively, there were two more _clicks_ , then dust started to fall as the door started to rise into the wall.

The three of them walked into a large, well lit cavern, then, something caught Link's attention.  
Steps were at the end of the room, on a raised stone platform was a chest, a coffin, and then he saw the thing behind it.  
It was a massive stone wall tha towered over him, with some sort of language carved into it. Above the words was a giant stone dragon head. One of these carved words was glowing, and Link could have sworn he heard voices whispering as he drew closer to the glowing word. Then, white tendrils of sheer energy swirled around him for a few seconds, and then the glow on the wall faded. Yet there was something _new_ , some sort of _knowledge_.  
 _Fus.  
_ Link had no idea what this word meant, but it was as if he _knew_ this word already.  
And for some reason, he wanted more of these words. They felt _right_.

The Hero of Twilight stepped closer to the stone wall, staring at the carved words. He felt as if he somehow _knew_ what they said - Here lies The Guardian, keeper of the Dragonstone, and a force of eternal rage and darkness.  
 _Guardian? What...Guardian? And what is this Dragonstone?_  
Link gazed at the words for a few more seconds before he half turned, noticed Hadvar and Ralof waiting for him at the start of a long corridor, and started to run over to them, wanting to tell the two Nords what he had discovered.

However, the cavern had _not_ been empty after all. For no sooner had Link ran for the corridor, had something shot up from the stone coffin in front of the stone wall. Ralof yelled "a Draugr Overlord!" when the thing turned towards him, and as the two men drew their weapons and started to attack the creature, Link looked for an opening and soon joined the fight. However, he was distracted by Hadvar and the Draugr caught Link with the flat of his axe blade and sent him flying into the stone wall, where he fell and didn't rise. Something flew from the creature and landed near Link - a strange carved stone.

His vision was darkening, and the sounds of Hadvar and Ralof fighting the Draugr Overlord started to fade. Just how hard he hit the wall? No, he needed to focus on the carved stone in front of him, it was _important_. Somehow. With his remaining strength, Link reached out with a shaking hand and pulled the stone object close to him, he heard Ralof yell his name from far away, then everything was gone.

But only for a few moments - as his vision returned. Ralof was kneeling beside him with an empty potion bottle and as soon as he saw Link, he grinned.

"Healing Potion. You may not remember, but I gave you one outside after you fought those bandits. Can you stand, we need your help to kill the Overlord."

Link eyed him for a moment, then nodded. Ralof helped him up, then ran off to aid Hadvar. The strange stone lay at his feet, but he could examine it later.  
Link reached to his sides and drew the twin daggers, then stepped forwards.

The monster spun to face him, its glowing eyes seemed to be entirely focused on the daggers.

Then, it _spoke_.  
"Fin Fron Zahkriiie Se Sul Ahrk Vulon." (The twin daggers of Dawn and Dusk)  
Link had no idea what the creature had said, but it sounded important. And the way it was looking at the daggers…  
The Hylian raised the fire dagger a bit and the Overlord stepped back, fear somehow showing itself in its glowing eyes.  
 _It's afraid of the daggers!  
_ Link waited a moment, then darted forwards, slashing upwards at the Overlord's helmet. The thing cracked in two, the cut turned molten, and the helmet fell to the stone floor, cut in half. Not that the Overlord cared. The Draugr then did something, no, it _said_ something.  
" _ **FUS RO DAH"  
**_ Link was thrown backwards a bit but not very far. As he got his balance back, he looked up to see an enchanted axe bearing down on him. He brought up the twin daggers and blocked the axe, only to notice how cold the axe felt when it was near him.  
 _Another magical weapon? Interesting._  
Then it felt as if his arms were on fire - they were frozen, encased in ice, however, he could still move them.  
The Overlord gazed at Link with a very obvious confusion before the thing raised its axe again. Link feigned left, then somehow brought up both daggers and sliced at the creature's chest before backflipping backwards - he thought he heard Ralof say something but he didn't catch what he said - and came to rest a few feet away, gazing at the Draugr Overlord as it looked down at the molten, frostbitten remains of its decayed chest.  
The Draugr's eyes seemed to be on fire, and the thing raised its axe and waved it.

Distant thuds, then, around a minute later, five other Draugr stumbled into view.  
Link twirled the twin daggers in his hands while he tried to come up with an idea.  
Before he could come up with one, Ralof and Hadvar started to fight the Draugr.

 _At least I don't have to worry about them now._  
Link half turned to see the Overlord walking towards him, and the Hylian slammed the twin daggers again, creating a shockwave of fire and ice that slammed into the Draugr and sent the thing stumbling back. But yet it didn't die. Instead, the Overlord raised the axe and brought it down. Link dove to the right and came back up as the sxe slammed into the ground where he had been a moment before. The Draugr pulled up the axe, and swung it, Link blocked the attack by crossing the twin daggers in front of him, then the fire in his arms grew stronger and he lowered the daggers a bit, watching the creature to see what it would do. The creature had stumbled backwards from the block, but it rushed forwards, axe raised high above its head. Link watched as the axe swung downwards, then he reached out, grabbed the axe, pulled it out of the Overlord's grasp, tossed it away, then swung the ice dagger at the Overlord's head.

The Draugr's glowing blue eyes slowly went dark as it's now frozen head as separated from its body, and the thing collapsed to the ground, dead. Its head landed next to the body and shattered into ice shards. Hadvar kicked the body with a boot and then nodded. "Well done Link! I don't know what you did with those daggers, but it worked!"  
Link nodded and noticed Ralof standing by the stone he had looked at earlier.  
Hadvar followed him as he walked over to the Nord.  
"So, any idea what this is? I can't seem to lift it."  
"Let me try."  
Ralof gave him a curious look, but said nothing.  
Link bent down, picked up the stone with ease, then rose to his full height.  
"How were you able to do that?"  
"I don't know, it just happened."  
Then Link, along with Hadvar and Ralof, studied the carved stone.

Fear. That was what he felt when he looked at the stone dragon head at the bottom of the stone, but _why?_  
Above the dragon head, the stone looked like a landscape with X'es/four point stars on random spots.  
"That looks like the location of Kynesgrove." Ralof pointed to a mark on the west side of the stone. "There's an old dragon mound there...Say, you don't think these are the locations of _dragon mounds_ , do you?"

"What are dragon mounds?"  
"Burial sites of dragons that were formed a very long time ago."  
Link took that as a good answer and then turned the stone over.  
On the back were carved words.

 _...It's the same language as the stone wall..._

That meant something, but what?  
Then he remembered the words on the wall, something about a Dragonstone…  
That's what the stone was.  
This...Dragonstone was important. Link knew that, but he didn't know why.  
It was time to leave Bleak Falls and search for answers.


	7. Whiterun and Dragonsreach

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 7:**_ _ **Whiterun and Dragonsreach**_

* * *

The three of them had returned safely. They had returned with the Golden Claw and the Dragonstone, after finding the two Nords' horses where they had left them, alive.  
Lucan was delighted to have the Claw back, and he was true to his word. The three of them received two hundred Septims each.  
After the three of them had refreshed their supplies, they left the Riverwood Trader, only to be greeted by Gerdur.  
"We need more guards here in case more dragons start showing up. I'm sure the three of you can travel to Whiterun?"  
Link, Hadvar, and Ralof looked at each other, then nodded at Gerdur.  
"Excellent. I suspect you'd want to get there as soon as possible, don't let me keep you."  
The two Nords and Hylian walked under the gate, crossed the bridge, and took the right path towards Whiterun.

Ralof finally stopped walking. Some sort of structure was just visible in the distance.

"See that? That's Dragonsreach. Whiterun sits around it. There's three districts. Cloud, which is where Dragonsreach is, Wind, which is where all of the shops are, and Plains, which is where everyone lives. I heard there's a house there for sale, Breezehome, but it costs five thousand Septims."  
Hadvar nodded.  
"Maybe they'd knock it down a thousand if they really wanted to, maybe someone helps save Whiterun or something."  
The two Nords talked a bit about the price of this Breezehome for bit, before they got a campfire going.  
"We'll stay here for tonight, then head for Whiterun at dawn."

* * *

It was dark. Then, a thunderous roar reached him, and then his world exploded with color. He was flying, drifting among the clouds, the two moons high above him. He wanted the world to know who he was, that all was to fear him! But something told him that his time had not come yet, but it was close. Soon, he would truly awaken and make Skyrim, no, Tamriel, nay, _all_ of Nirn know the meaning of Fear!

His massive golden wings flapped on the air currents as he seemed to fly in the Aurora, its beautiful lights dancing all around him. He spotted goats on a mountain and briefly thought about devouring them, but thought against it. Then he decided to grab just one, and he flew down, claws outstretched, fangs salivating at the taste of blood and meat. And then he said _something_ , and somewhere else, something awoke, if only briefly.  
 **" _FUS RO DAH!"_**

* * *

The wolf awoke with a yelp and he leapt to his paws, staring out at the moon lit fields before him. He felt some sort of longing, something he had never felt before, and it confused him.  
 _What...It's like when I saw that Dragon fly overhead two nights ago, and then at that stone wall...What is going on!?  
_ It was as if his mind woke up then and he looked down.  
 _I'm a wolf again. Why does this keep happening?_ _  
_He found that he had no answers to his questions and Link stayed where he was standing for a few more moments, then he felt a pressing need and padded over to a massive pine tree, looked around, then stepped behind the tree and relieved himself.  
As he did so, the wolf's thoughts wandered to the dream he had had, that sentence the thing had spoke, it had sounded _right_. That first word, he remembered it from that stone wall in Bleak Falls.  
 _Fus._  
There. Something stirred in him, but only for a moment. That one word _meant_ something, and Link was determined to figure out what that meant.  
The wolf returned to the campfire for a few moments, gazed at the two Nords that were sleeping nearby, then turned around and started to walk down the hill.

It was an hour later, Link was very close to Whiterun now and was quietly stalking a lone goat, intent on killing it and eating it. The wolf crouched low to the ground, waited a moment, then pounced. The goat let out a death scream as the beast bit its throat, instinctively swallowing warm blood as he did so. Link stood still for a moment, his ears flicking for any signs of retaliation. Finding none, the wolf started to drag the goat to where he had been sleeping.  
He dropped the goat at his paws, looked down at it for a moment, then tore into the dead carcass, raw sinew and muscle and bone disappearing down his throat as he satisfied his hunger.

Finally, Link swayed a bit, before he dropped to the ground besides the goat carcass, feeling drowsy.

 _It obviously belonged to someone but I need to eat somehow. Besides it was…_  
He searched for a word, but all he could think of was  
 _...Good. I'll need to find a way to get into Whiterun, but I can dwell on that later today-  
_ Something sent some sort of bird into the air, screaming "FLEE, FLEE!" as the creature flew away. Link's head snapped up, eyes scanning his surroundings. Then, he smelled them. _Men._  
The wolf got up, his muscles tense, ready to run at any moment's notice. Then he heard something whistle through the air, sail over his head, and come down in a field not too far away. The wolf took it as a sign to leave, so he looked down at the goat carcass with dismay - how he wished he could take it with him - and he took off to the left of the bridge, darting left and right every now and then, towards Whiterun. He stuck close to the path and the river, and eventually, his pursuers gave up and he was able to stop running.  
Link had seen movement on the other side of the bridge, however, he _could_ leap across the river and double back to where he had seen the movement, but yet…

The wolf padded over to the riverbank and looked at it, then at the other side.

 _I've never jumped this far before? What if I fall in?  
_ Link hesitated, then walked backwards a bit, then ran forwards into the water.  
It was cold, but he bent down, and then leapt for the other side.  
Then he felt entirely different.  
 _...Just ...Why…_  
Then he fell into the river.

* * *

This was not a good day. The giant that had been roaming near Whiterun had decided to venture onto Pelagia Farm, and who had been called to deal with the giant this early in the morning. The Companions. As always.  
Aela notched an arrow to her bow and fired it at the giant.  
Then, Farkas came running up.  
"Aela, we've got company."  
Aela gazed at Farkas for a moment, then looked to where he was pointing.  
"...What?"  
A figure darted up to the giant, then darted away as the creature turned to face them. They earned a hit to their left side and they went down.

Farkas winced. "That had to hurt."  
The giant started to walk towards them, holding the club up a bit, then the creature roared and dropped to one knee. The figure from before appeared, their left shoulder obviously injured, ran around to the front of the giant, and was hit again by the club.  
Tovar darted pass the two other Companions, up to the figure, picked them up and darted back before laying them on the ground.  
"...What's this? A young Elf? What's he doing out here?"  
Farkas grinned. "Maybe he saw us and wanted to help? Not much good now, he's injured, and - wait, do we have any healing potions left?"  
Before Aela could reply, a blood covered arm set itself on Farkas' wrist.  
"I want to help."  
The voice was somewhat young, male, and there was this accent that none of the Companions could place.  
"Help? You're injured. How old are you?"  
"Fifteen. This blood isn't mine, by the way, it happened when I stabbed the giant's leg."  
Aela smiled. "For how injured you are, you seem to not care. What do you think you can do in your current state?"  
The Elf - if that's what his race was - eyed Aela for a second, then slowly got to his feet, swayed a bit, then drew two daggers, one on fire, one made of ice. He ended up holding both of them in his right hand, for all intents and purposes, his left arm was useless - it was simply hanging, unusable at that moment. In addition to that, it was clear that his right ribs were broken.  
"I guess stab the giant with these until he falls?"  
Farkas smiled.  
"Sounds like a plan to me."  
Without waiting for orders, the Elf darted forwards, stabbed the giant in the same leg, brought it down to one knee, somehow vaulted up to his neck, and started to stab the creature while the three Companions finished it off. At last, the Giant fell and the Elf leapt from the Giant's neck, rolled, and came back up as the thing hit the ground.

Farkas looked at Torvar, who then started asking questions.

"What's your name?"  
"Link. Link Faremanne. Yours?"  
"I'm Torvar, the other two are Aela and Farkas. You're not from here, are you?"  
"No."  
Before Tovar could ask Link anything else, the Elf turned black, and when he returned from not being black, a massive black and white wolf was sitting there, looking very annoyed.

The three Companions looked at each other, then at the wolf, then back at each other.

"Did you know he could become a wolf?"  
Farkas shook his head.  
"No, Aela, I didn't. But look at him, he's massive!"  
Farkas looked down at the injured shapeshifter, then moved his gaze up to Dragonsreach.  
"We'll bring him to Kodlak. He'll know what to do."  
Torvar bent down next to Link and then looked up.  
"...That's fine and all, but how are we going to get him into Whiterun?"

* * *

Being a guard was boring. Nothing never really happened, until now.  
Two of the Companions, Torvar and Farkas, were carrying a massive dead black and white wolf between them, while Aela led.  
"Guard, we'd like to take this wolf back to Jorrvaskr."  
The guard eyed her for a moment, then waved a hand.  
"Alright, but other people might ask you questions. Pretty big beast you've got there, you need help carrying it?"  
"No, we don't, but thanks for offering."  
The guard let them pass, but kept his eye on the massive dead wolf as Torvar and Farkas carried the corpse inside Whiterun.  
"Well...That was strange."

* * *

The Companions were drinking and talking in the main hall when Aela, Farkas, and Tovar returned, but yet they grew silent when they saw the wolf.  
"Where did you hunt him?"  
"We didn't hunt him."  
Farkas set the wolf down on the table, then said something strange.  
"You can stop playing dead, kid."  
The wolf moved a bit, then opened his eyes and focused on Farkas for a moment, before the beast started to look around the room.

Farkas turned to Tovar and asked him to go fetch Kodlak. Torvar left, Aelas started to look the wolf over, while Farkas told the other Companions that a young Elf by the name of Link had helped them kill the giant, then he had shapeshifted into the wolf on the table. While the other Companions started talking to each other, Farkas watched as Aela gently pushed the wolf back down when he bolted upright a bit.

"Aela, you're being motherly."  
Farkas smirked as he watched the woman tend to the wolf.  
The woman glared at him before determining just how many ribs were broken.  
"I am not."  
Farkas stopped leaning against a wooden beam and walked over to her.  
"Yes you are. Is it because of how young he actually is?"  
Aela set the wolf's shoulder without warning, then nodded.  
"I knew it. What are you going to do when he turns back to normal."  
"Scold him for being so reckless, of course, what else?"  
Despite the obvious pain the wolf was in, he shot a smug grin at her and Farkas grinned.  
"You. I like you, kid, you've got fire."  
Then Kodlak Whitemane stepped into the room and it fell silent.

Kodlak walked up to the young wolf and gazed at him for a second, taking note of the eerie human like intelligence in the blue eyes. "I've never seen anything like you before."  
He looked at Aela.  
"You said he was a young elf before he transformed?"  
The woman nodded as she finished stitching Link's wounds.  
She noticed the shackle and chain on the wolf's left arm and lifted the arm a bit, then glanced to Kodlak, who frowned.  
"A shackle? It looks like it's been there for a while. What do you say we try to take it off?"  
The wolf nodded and held his arm out for Kodlak, who took it, then another Companion walked up and said that she would want to try to break the lone shackle. Kodlak nodded, let Njada Stonearm hold the shackle in her hand, then she drew a Skyreach sword and slammed it against the metal. The sword broke, but the shackle had nary a scratch.  
"...What? How?"  
It sooned turned into a competition to see who could break the shackle.  
Aela used her sword, Farkas a mace, Torvar an axe. Even Athis tried to open it by using a metal rod as a lever.  
However, in the end, no weapon broke it. The Companions were insulted; the metal of the Skyforge was supposed to be able to break anything! But not the shackle.

Eventually, Kodlak told Torvar to get Eorlund Gray-Mane, who studied Link for a bit before the man nodded.

"I believe you when you said he was a young Elf when you fought the giant, his injuries match those of what you described his were, I have a feeling that this shackle is causing these transformations."  
Eorlund stroked his beard in thought for a moment, then turned to Farkas.  
"Get me a Daedric sword.  
Kodlak gave Eorlund a knowing look and turned to Farkas.  
"Bring back _my_ Daedric sword.  
The Nord ran off to get the weapon and Eorlund moved his hand to the shackle to the paw, which had a strange symbol on it.  
"I bet you know what this is, don't you?"  
A nod.  
Gray-Mane let the paw fall to the table and half turned to see Farkas standing there with his sword.  
"Thank you. Now stand back, everyone."  
Eorlund took the sword, picked up the arm with the lone shackle, and lock picked the shackle's lock with the sword.  
The shackle made a mute _click_ and it fell from the wolf's arm from the table, which revealed a scar where the shackle had been.  
It was silent for a second, the Companions in shock at what had happened.  
Kodlak picked up the remains of the shackle and looked at them. "Let that be a lesson to you that blunt force isn't always the answer, and you have to be as cunning as you are strong."

The Companions continued to talk to themselves, then went silent as the wolf turned black, then, where the wolf had been sitting, was a young Elf. Eorlund smiled.  
"Hello, Link, Aela told me how you helped them fight the giant?"  
A nod.  
Kodlak helped the boy down from the table, looked him over, checked his injuries, then the other Companions gathered around.  
They learnt that Link was from a place named Hyrule, and that his people were called Hylians.  
"Well", Eorlund was stroking his beard again "I'm offering you a chance to join us, Link. You don't need to join us now, but I'm giving you the chance to as soon as you think you're ready. You more than proved yourself when you helped Torvar, Aela, and Farkas fight that Giant, regardless of your injuries."  
"Really?"  
"Sure, it's the least we can do. Get you new supplies, let you freshen up a bit, send you on your way. What brings you to Whiterun, I wonder?"  
"I was heading to Dragonsreach to inform them of the Dragon attack on Helgen, and that Riverwood requests more guards in case another Dragon attacks them."  
Farkas nodded.  
"But yet they sent you instead of someone else?"  
"Hadvar and Ralof should have arrived here at some point."  
Kodlak took a step forward.  
"They're already somewhere in Whiterun, from what I heard."  
Link, after having breakfast and speaking with them for a while, thanked the Companions for aiding him, then left Jorrvaskr.

* * *

Whiterun was...massive compared to Ordon. Link was fascinated with the Argonians and Khajiits, and with the way they spoke.  
"Greetings! I have not seen you in Whiterun before, are you an outsider?"  
A young male Khajiit hissed at the female Argonian.  
"Swift! He might be an outsider, but you don't have to state that!"  
The two of them were standing behind a stall that had various items, such as food and clothing.  
The Khajiit had a thick blonde mane, his coat was blonde fur, blue eyes, and was wearing a red tunic and black trousers. The female Argonian was green scaled, she had blue eyes, horns on her head and she was wearing a red dress.

"Samson?"  
Swift was looking up at her friend with a sly expression and he didn't seem to catch on.  
"Yes…?"  
"Those two are at it again."  
She pointed a silver claw towards a young man and woman standing close together nearby, around her age.  
Samson shook his head.  
"So they are. I wonder if he has asked her the question."  
Swift glared at the cat and Samson merely grinned.  
"Why are you so angry with me, my friend? I know you wonder as well!"  
Link felt as if was suddenly intruding, so he said farewell to Samson and Swift, then walked down the hill towards the gates, where he saw a man arguing with a blacksmith.

The man was making some sort of large order

The blacksmith threw her hands up.  
"Idolaf, I just can't fill an order that size on my own. Why don't you swallow that stubborn pride of yours and ask Eorlund Gray-Mane for help?"

Idolaf scowled.  
"I'll sooner bend my knee to Ulfric Stormcloak, Adrianne. Besides, Gray-Mane would never make steel for the Legion.""  
Adrianne nodded.

"Have it your way. I'll take the job, but don't expect a miracle."

Curious, Link walk up to the two and then froze as the man suddenly turned to face him.  
"Gray-Mane or Battle-Born?"  
"What?"  
"Got stones in your ears? I asked what side you're on, Gray-Mane or Battle-Born!"  
"I..I'm afraid I don't understand the question."  
The man sighed.  
"New in town, huh? Whiterun's got two clans, both old and both respected. Difference is, the Gray-Manes turned their backs on the Empire and we Battle-Borns stayed loyal. So I'll ask again, Gray-Mane or Battle-Born?"  
"...Can I choose both?"  
The man shook his head.  
"Sure, just know that sooner or later, we all have to choose a side."

No sooner had Idolaf left the blacksmith than Link overheard two Redugards arguing.  
"Amren, I am not going to let you go out there again! You've wasted too much time looking for that thing! Just accept that it's gone."  
"Saffir! Please give me one more day! I'll find it!"  
'Set one foot outside our house, and you won't see me or your daughter again."  
The woman shook her head and started to walk away, while Link stepped up to the man.  
"Is something wrong?"  
"My sword! It was a family heirloom, but now it's gone!"  
"I could look for it if you want."  
"You would? Divines bless you!"  
The man gave Link a description of his father's sword and then told him that he last had the sword north west of Whiterun, but then two bandits had ambushed him.  
"I shall give you twenty five Septims if you find my sword and return it to me."  
Link nodded, then heard someone yelling something and went to go investigate.

A man wearing robes was wildly gesturing and saying things about "Talos" whoever they were.  
Somewhat interested, Link took a step forward and the man spotted him.  
"Hello, my friend! If you seek knowledge about mighty Talos, you have most certainly come to the right person." He gestured to the statue with his hand and Link looked up to the statue, then back to the man.  
"In mortal life, Talos was a Nord possessed of unmatched tactical skill, limitless wisdom and the power to see into men's hearts. ..."  
Heimskr, as the man was named, seemed to be very happy that Link was talking to him. He answered any questions that Link had about Tamriel's various religions, and pointed him in the direction of the Temple of Kynareth a few feet away if he wanted to know more.  
Link shook his head.  
"I'd love to continue speaking with you, but I've wasted far too much time already. I need to get to Dragonsreach."  
Heimskr eyed him curiously.  
"Whatever for?"  
"Riverwood needs more guards in case a dragon attacks it."  
The man nodded.  
"That's a good reason. Go on, don't let me keep you!"  
Heimskr waved a hand towards the stairs and the young Hylian left the priest's company and finally started for Dragonsreach.  
 _So Talos was a mortal that ascended to Godhood...Interesting. It seems like these Divines are well worshipped. I may just take up Heimskr's offer and study these Divines._

The building in front of him was massive. Sure, it wasn't as tall as Hyrule Castle, perhaps half as tall, but it was still massive.  
Link stared up at the massive twin doors for a moment, then stepped forwards and pushed them open, only to be stopped by three guards.

* * *

Jarl Balgruuf sensed that something had changed. Something was bound to happen soon, but what he was, he did not know. There was some sort of commotion at the entrance, someone was being questioned by guards about the real purpose of his visit. Balgruuf stood up from his throne.  
"Let the boy pass! If he ventured up here, he must have something important to say!"  
The guards looked at each other for a second, then let the visitor pass.  
Balgruuf silently gazed at the young Elf as he drew closer. He wasn't from Skyrim, that was for certain, and the way he was staring at everything told The Jarl that he had never really been anywhere this nice.  
"So, what brings you to Dragonsreach?"  
The Elf froze, locked gazes with Balgruuf for a second, then composed himself.  
"I bring a request from Riverwood, they would like more guards in case of a Dragon attack."  
The Jarl leaned forwards a bit.  
"They send a mere boy to tell me this? What is your name?"  
"Link Farmanne."  
Balgruuf smiled.  
"Link...A fitting name. That large stone you're carrying...Do you know what it is?"  
"I believe it's called a Dragonstone."  
The Jarl blinked, then gazed at the court mage's room.

"Farengar! I need you!"

The court wizard poked his head out of his office, then saw what Link was holding. Balgruuf had never seen the man move so fast in his life as he did now.  
The mage ran over to Link, took the Dragonstone from him, then started asking questions.  
"Where did you get this, did you tamper with it all at?"  
"Farengar, let the boy speak, please, I am certain he has a lot to say."  
Link started to speak, but when he mentioned his wolf counterpart, the mage stopped him.

"So you can transform into a wolf? Fascinating, do you think you could show us?"  
Balgruuf shook his head.  
"Perhaps some other people wouldn't like that, Farengar. I admit, I am curious, let us test this in your study, shall we?"  
The jarl got up from his throne and the court wizard darted off to his study, Link and Jarl following.

* * *

"Utterly fascinating. Your mind is still in there…"  
Farengar was eyeing a massive black and white wolf that was sitting on a table.  
"I'm...Trying to restrain myself because of that, won't want to make you uncomfortable, or anything of the sort…"  
Balgruuf kept watch for anyone that would want to speak to him while the court wizard tested various magical reactions.  
"Odd, you don't seem to react to magic...You can transform back now."  
Farengar stepped back as the wolf leaped from the table, turned black, shot upwards, and then Link was standing there.  
The mage gestured towards the Dragonstone that was lying on the table.  
"Where did you find this?"  
"In Bleak Falls Barrow."  
Balgruuf nodded.  
"Interesting. I must return to my Throne now, les someone needs me"  
The Jarl left the room to go back to his Throne while Farengar and Link studied the Dragonstone for a bit.  
There was some sort of commotion in the main hall, and Farengar was called from his study. Link stepped out of the mage's office and followed Farengar up the stairs, where a lone guard was talking to Jarl Balgruuf about a dragon being spotted at the western watchtower.

"So, Irileth tells me you came from the western watchtower."

The guard nodded, looking very nervous.  
"Yes, my lord."

Irileth stepped up.  
"Tell him what you told me. About the dragon."

The guard shifted a bit.  
"Uh...that's right. We saw it coming from the south. It was fast...faster than anything I've ever seen."

Balgruuf looked concerned.  
"What did it do? Is it attacking the watchtower?"

The guard shook his head.  
"No, my lord. It was just circling overhead when I left. I never ran so fast in my life...I thought it would come after me for sure."

Balgruuf clapped a hand on the man's shoulder and smiled.  
"Good work, son. We'll take it from here. Head down to the barracks for some food and rest. You've earned it."  
The Jarl watched the guard leave, then turned to his housecarl.  
"Irileth, you'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there."

"I've already ordered my men to muster near the main gate."

Balgruuf nodded.  
"Good. Don't fail me. One last thing, Irileth. This isn't a death or glory mission. I need to know what we're dealing with.

"Don't worry, my lord. I'm the very soul of caution."

Irileth nodded to the Jarl, drew her sword, then gestured to two other guards.  
"You two, with me! We'll show the winged bastard that he'll regret the day he was ever hatched!"  
The woman than ran off with a few guards.

 _A dragon? Here? It couldn't be the one I saw two nights ago, could it?_  
Link watched the guards and Irileth leave, then started to follow them, only to stop and gaze at a table nearby. On it laid two clawed objects and a map of Skyrim. Link picked one of the objects up, and half turned to face Farengar.  
"Where did you find these?"  
Farengar smiled.

"A guard found them by the river. They were in rough shape, and covered in blood. I cleaned them personally and have been trying to figure out how they operate, with no success this far."

"I can show you, if you wish. They're called Clawshots, and they can latch onto any wooden object and propel you towards them."  
Farengar tilted his head a bit in confusion.  
"And you know how these work, why?"  
Then young Hylian picked up the other Clawshot, aimed one towards a wooden beam above him, then lowered the weapon.  
"Because they're mine. I found them in a ruin back home."  
Farengar looked at Link for a moment, then nodded.  
"Then you may keep them, and the map, if you wish. No, not that one, _this_ one."  
The man gave him a smaller map, which he studied for a bit, put it in his satchel, then started to walk down the steps.

"Link."  
He stopped walking and looked back.  
Jarl Balgruuf was looking at him with mixed emotions, then the Jarl moved his gaze to the twin Clawshots.  
"I admit that you have been through a great deal since you awoke in Skyrim, and that, I know without you speaking, that you wish to aid them in fighting the dragon, if there is one. However, I cannot let you leave. It's far too dangerous."  
"... _Dangerous_? I'll have you know that I fought the most powerful warlock back home in Hyrule and survived. A dragon should be no trouble for me."  
"Most powerful in your homeland, perhaps, but there are possibly far more powerful mages here, Link."  
The Jarl's tone told Link that he overstepping some sort of boundary, but yet, to be treated like _this_ was too much after what he had been through.  
Before Link could take a step forward, he was suddenly frozen. He couldn't move for a second then the feeling passed.  
"If you're going to try to retaliate, then I will stop you. Just a warning."  
Farengar had frozen him somehow.  
"How did you do that?"  
The mage smiled.  
"Practice. It's a spell called Paralyze."  
The Jarl walked over to Link, then set a hand on his shoulder.  
"I had received word that two Nords have been asking about you, you may seem them before they depart, if you wish."  
Link nodded, composed himself, then started to walk down the steps.

* * *

Link stopped on Dragonreach's bridge after leaving the building, attached the Clawshots to his belt, then looked out towards the burning watchtower. Something was flying around it, and when he saw what it was, he felt those emotions again, the same ones he had felt when the same dragon flew overhead in Riverwood.

"What are you doing out here?"  
It was Irileth, she was standing there at the end of the bridge, arms crossed. Ralof and Hadvar were standing close together, eyeing the guards nervously.  
When they saw Link, then ran over to him.  
"So you're off to fight the dragon then?"  
Hadvar nodded.  
"It's a tough decision, lad. We've seen how you fight, but they haven't. Besides, it's far too dangerous."  
"And yet you're going?"  
The two Nords didn't have an answer to that and Irileth yelled at them that they had to leave.  
Hadvar ran over to the woman but Ralof stayed there for a moment.  
"When we return, I'll tell you everything, alright?"  
"Not if Hadvar tells me first."  
Ralof grinned, shook his head, then walked over to Irileth, who then led the group down the steps and they disappeared from view.

A few minutes passed. It was surprisingly quiet on the bridge, and Link looked back at the massive twin doors for a moment, then noticed the wooden beams above and all around him.  
 _...I wonder...Do the Clawshots still work?  
_ He then noticed how much wood was really around him and he grinned.  
 _Only one way to find out. How I'd love to see the look on Balgruuf's face when he realizes that I've gone off to help._  
Link primed a Clawshot, aimed it towards a wooden beam above the wooden doors, and then fired.


	8. Battling a Dragon

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 8:**_ _ **Battling a Dragon  
It's the moment you've all been waiting for! Enjoy!**_

* * *

Irileth stopped before the main gates, then turned to face the three guards that were with her.  
"Here's the situation. A dragon is attacking the Western Watchtower."

The three guards had various responses to this.

"What?"

"A dragon?"

"We're in for it."  
The woman raised her voice a bit to make herself be heard.

"You heard right! I said a dragon! I don't much care where it came from or who sent it. What I do know is it's made the mistake of attacking Whiterun!"

One of the guards looked at her curiously.

"But Housecarl...how can we attack a dragon?"

Irileth thought about her response. How _did_ one attack a Dragon?

"That's a fair question. None of us have ever seen a dragon before, or expected to face one in battle. But we are honorbound to fight it, even if we fall. This dragon is threatening our homes...our families. Could you call yourselves Nords if you ran from this monster? Are you going to let me face this thing alone?"

"We're so dead…"

Irileth ignored the man and continued speaking.  
"But it's more than our honor at stake here. Think of it - the first dragon seen in Skyrim since the last age. The glory of killing it is ours, if you're with me! Now what do you say? Shall we go kill us a Dragon?"  
The three guards cheered and hefted their weapons.

"Yeah!"

"Damn right!"  
"Yeah!"

The woman grinned.

"Let's move out."  
Irileth caught movement in the corner of her eye and looked up, but saw nothing.  
She thought about shooting whatever caused the movement, but decided not to, and motioned for her men to follow her.

* * *

There was something about having the Clawshots back in his possession that Link couldn't exactly decipher. He wondered how they had been found near the White River, and how long they had laid there before a guard found them. He supposed he was lucky any of his gear had been found at all. But one question still bothered him - Where was the Master Sword?

He was closer to the watchtower than he had been five minutes ago, thanks to the Clawshots, unfortunately, the rest of his journey would have to be on foot. Which was fine.  
Surprisingly, no one saw him approach and then run into the tower, where he almost ran into a lone guard.  
"What are you doing here? It's not safe!"  
"I came to help you."  
The man gazed at him, then shook his head. However, before he could respond, the ruins of the tower shook, and then there was a roar.  
The source of the roar belonged to a massive dragon, and it was heading directly towards Irileth and her men.  
The lone guard ran outside, waving his arms in panic, but Link ignored him, took his bow off his back, notched an Iron Arrow to the bowstring, then lowered the bow as he realized that he was too far away. He stood there for a moment, then started to run.

* * *

Irileth and the guards were currently hiding behind various boulders, watching the tower.  
She risked standing up and looking around, then dropped back to her previous position.  
"No signs of any dragon right now, but it sure looks like he's been here. I know it looks bad, but we've got to figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still skulking around somewhere. Spread out and look for survivors. We need to know what we're dealing with."  
The three guards nodded, the group got up from where they had been hiding, and started to walk towards the watchtower.  
Then there was a roar. Something massive flew over the mountains and started to fly towards them.  
It was a Dragon.

The massive creature swooped down, still roaring, then breathed fire.  
The group scattered, running in different directions, but regrouped a minute later.  
The dragon started to fly towards them again, but then stopped, and opened his giant maw. **  
**

 **"** ** _ **FUS RO DAH!**_** **"** ** **  
****There was an audible _boom_ and a visible shockwave that sent the guards flying in all directions.  
"Brit grah (Beautiful Battle). I had forgotten what fine sport you mortals can provide!"

Then the beast landed - the earth shaking as he did so - before a lone guard, eyed him, reared his head up a bit, opened his maw, and -  
A lone arrow appeared from nowhere and struck the dragon in the neck.

* * *

Something...Something was wrong.  
He had felt strange ever since he saw the dragon at Dragonreach's bridge, but now there was something else.  
The feelings he had felt then had reached some sheer intensity, and not only that, but it felt as if his blood was _boiling_.  
It didn't hurt, per say, the sensation was just there.  
 _I don't understand, why am I feeling these things?_  
He notched another arrow to his bow and fired, trying to distract himself. The arrow hit the dragon in the side and it roared, causing the surviving guards to cheer and heft their weapons.  
Irileth was yelling at him, something about "the Jarl will hear about this!", but Link ignored her. He could deal with the consequences of disobeying orders later.  
The dragon took to the air, circled the group a bit, then it flew even higher, then was struck by a lightning bolt and everyone, Link included, simply stared at Irileth.  
"Don't look at me, focus on fighting that dragon!"  
"I didn't know you could summon lightning bolts."  
Other guards started saying variations of this and Irileth summoned another lightning bolt that hit the dragon on its right wing.  
"Look, I will tell you later how I can summon lighting, but right now, we need to kill this dragon!"  
Another volley of arrows went up, hitting the dragon in various places.

After several minutes of being hit with arrows and lightning bolts, the Dragon landed again, scattering the guards, then pinned Link to the ground with his left wing claw.  
The creature's orange eyes gazed down at him, then the beast _spoke_. **  
**"Hi Lost Ahraanaani, Kiir! Zu'u Werid Hi Ahkrin, Fah Muz Bovul Noli, yet Hi Kriist Ahrk Lufti Naan Hinvomindok! Hi Bormah, Rok Fenaan Koss Kahaan Wah Tinvaak Hi Ok Kul!" (You have wounded me, child! I praise your courage, for men flee from me, yet you stand and face me by yourself! Your father, he would be proud to name you his son!) **  
**The Dragon then reared his head up, and titled it to the side a bit. **  
**"There is something different about you, Kiir (child). What, I do not know." ** **  
****"What...What do they call you?" **  
**"They name me Mirmulnir, however, you shall not live to tell the others this!" ** **  
****Mirmulnir opened his maw and brought his head down, only to slam it against Link's shield.  
The dragon shook his head.  
"RUTH! You are strong, but not strong enough!" ** **  
****Mirmulnir reared his head back and opened his mouth again, then whipped his head around and lunged towards five guards, thus allowing Link to finally get up.

The Dragon grabbed a guard in his claw, took off into the air, then dropped him.  
Without even thinking about it, Link went wolf, and tore across the battlefield, eyes tracking the falling guard.  
He had only ran this fast before one another time.  
" _We need to get to Hyrule Castle! Zelda can help us!"_  
The wolf shook his head to clear away the memory and kept running.

At the last second, the wolf shifted upwards and caught the guard just before he hit the ground. The two fell to the grass and simply looked at each other.  
"I'm...Alive! Did...Did you…save me?"  
A nod.  
The guard got up, and ran off after thanking Link for saving him.  
But yet, something was wrong, Mirmulnir seemed to be planning something, but what?

"You are brave. Balaan hokoron (Worthy Enemy). Your defeat brings me honor."

The Dragon roared as he was hit again in the side, then shook his head.  
"ENOUGH! I have toyed with you for too long!" **  
**Mirmulnir drew his head back, then roared.  
" _ **FUS RO DAH!"  
**_ Everyone was sent backwards, including Link, as the shockwave struck the group.  
"Thurri du hin sille ko Sovngarde!" (My lord will feast on your souls in Sovngarde!)  
"He's going for the tower!"

Link found himself staring up at what appeared to be a stone roof. No, it was the second floor of the tower. He couldn't exactly move, however, there were wooden beams running up the walls.  
 _...I could use my Clawshots._  
The Hylian primed a long Clawshot, aimed it at a wooden beam, then fired the weapon.

* * *

They were still fighting the dragon. They had no idea how long it had been, but the beast just would not die.  
"Ralof! With me!"  
The Nord ran over to his friend and helped him carry an injured guard behind a bolder, then they ran back to the battle.  
The Hadvar grabbed his shoulder.  
"Link followed us."  
"What?"  
"Yes! He's the one that shot those two arrows at the start!"  
Ralof smiled.  
"...Well...For his age, he has a pretty good shot, do you know where he is?"  
Hadvar shook his head.  
"A guard said that he was thrown backwards into the tower when the Dragon shouted, I haven't seen him since."  
The smile faded and the two Nords looked towards the ruined tower.  
"There's nothing we can do about it, we need to help the others."  
Hadvar started to run towards the Dragon, which had landed, and Ralof followed. Before they reached the beast, it took again, towards the tower, and the guards and two Nords looked up, only to see someone leap from the top of the tower and land on the dragon's back.  
"...No...It can't be…"  
The figure currently dodging the dragon's attacks and stabbing its neck was Link.

After several minutes, the dragon shuddered in the air, then fell to the ground. The figure on the beast's back was thrown forward and hit the ground, but then got up a minute later and stood before the downed beast.  
The Dragon snarled, then froze. **  
**

" _Dovahkiin?!...No…No, no, no, no!"_ He roared. It was the last thing the beast ever said before his head hit the ground.  
The guards slowly walked forward a little.

"Is it done?"

"It's finally dead!"

"Wait, something's happening!"

Tendrils of gold-blue energy rose from Mirmulnir's skeleton and swirled around the young man standing before the dragon's skeleton, then the tendrils vanished. Then, the dragon's body started to catch on fire and burn away.  
A few moments later, the dragon's killer yelled something, a word, _Fus_ , and the dragon's corpse was thrown away from the group, coming to rest in a distant field.  
It was completely silent, then a lone guard removed his helmet and shook his head.  
"I...I don't believe it! You're... _Dragonborn!"_


	9. Dovahkiin?

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 9:**_ _ **...Dovahkiin?  
**_ **Well, what can I say, a lot of stuff is gonna happen in this chapter.** _ **  
**_ **NEW THANE WEAPONS!  
The new Thane weapons are from a Nexus mod by the user of Icecreamassassin, by the name of Thane Weapons Reborn.  
The Nirn lore later in this chapter is an exact transcript of Double Negatives' "The Dawn Era - The Elder Scrolls Lore" lore video.  
A big thank you to my beta reader, Xeno the Reaper, he's helped me since chapter 4, and he'll be helping me for the rest of this story!  
**

* * *

"What do you mean, he's Dragonborn?"  
"That thing the lad did was shouting, so he must be Dragonborn!"  
"That's right! My grandfather used to tell stories about the Dragonborn. Those born with the Dragon Blood in 'em. Like old Tiber Septim himself."  
"I've never heard of Tiber Septim killing any dragons."

"There weren't any dragons then, idiot. They're just coming back now for the first time in...forever."

"But the old tales tell of the Dragonborn who could kill dragons and steal their power. The kid must be one!"

The four guards glanced over at Irileth.  
"What do you say, Irileth? You've being awfully quiet."  
"Come on, Irileth, tell us, do you believe in this Dragonborn business?"

The housecarl shook her head.  
"Hmph. Some of you would be better off keeping quiet than flapping your gums on matters you don't know anything about. The dragon's dead, and that's something I definitely understand. Now we know we can kill them. But I don't need some mythical Dragonborn. Someone who can put down a dragon is more than enough for me."

A guard shook his head.

"You wouldn't understand, Housecarl. You ain't a Nord."

"I've been all across Tamriel. I've seen plenty of things just as outlandish as this. I'd advise you all to trust in the strength of your sword over tales and legends."

The group had left the ruined watchtower and had started to walk back towards Dragonsreach.  
A lone guard looked back towards Link and noticed that the left side of his face was covered in blood.  
"You know you're wounded, right?"  
A nod.  
"Don't worry. We'll get you back to Whiterun and find you a healer."  
Another spoke up.  
"You know, I found those clawed things by the White River. Almost broke my back carrying them up to Dragonsreach, yet the kid can use 'em without any problems."  
"Maybe they were forged for him or something? They're definitely magic weapons of some sort."  
A thunderclap resounded across Whiterun Hold, and some voice came from the Throat of the World.  
" _ **DDDDOOOVVVAAAAHHHKKKIIIIINNNNN"  
**_ Everyone stopped walking and gazed up at the mountain.  
"Well, that confirms it - the kid's Dragonborn. Who would have guessed?"  
Irileth shook her head.  
"I'm still not convinced, we should get back to Dragonsreach before all of us faint from sheer exhaustion."  
A guard shook his head.  
"If any of us are going to faint, it's the kid. He's been through a lot."  
Another guard spoke up.  
"Yeah, with fighting that dragon and killing it, not to mention being Dragonborn…"  
"Enough of this Dragonborn business! We'll speak to the Jarl about it. Now, if no one else has objections, let's move."  
Irileth eyed the group for a moment, then she turned and started walking across the field, then the entire group trailing behind her.

When the group entered Whiterun, people came out of their shops and houses to watch them pass.  
The guards seemed to enjoy saying "out of the way, Dragonborn business." while Irileth merely glared at them with an irritated look.  
However, as the group passed Jorrvaskr, someone hailed him.  
"Link."  
Eorlund stepped forward, holding something in his right hand.  
"I made this from the remnants of that shackle and tried to get as close as I could to that design you sketched. It turns out that the metal is somewhat magical. Here, I want you to have this."  
Something was hanging from an Iron-Silver necklace, something familiar…  
It was the Hyrulian Royal Crest.  
Link stared at the necklace for a moment, then reached out, took the item from Eorlund, and lifted the necklace over his head, where it fell to rest at the base of his neck.  
"...It's glowing a bit. The metal. How interesting."  
Eorlund nodded, then gestured towards something behind him,  
"I need to get back to the Skyforge. Good luck, Link."  
As the man left, the Hylian found himself looking past the seemingly dead tree and up at Dragonsreach, well aware that something had been set in motion, something not even he could stop.

* * *

The twin doors of Dragonsreach banged against the wall as they were shoved open. Balgruuf got up from his Throne and watched in silence as Irileth and the three guards walked towards him.  
"Well?"  
"The dragon is dead. But not by our hand."  
Balgruuf arched an eyebrow in confusion.  
"Oh? Then who killed it?"  
"I did."

A lone figure was standing by the doorway, his clothes stained with blood and dirt, blood running down his face from an open wound.

The Jarl stood still for a moment, then rushed forwards, hugged Link, then took a step back.  
"Your wound doesn't seem to be that deep. Farengar can heal that. But you must tell me, if it was truly you who killed the dragon, how did you do it?"  
"I jumped from the tower, landed on his back, and stabbed him to death with these."  
Link drew two daggers and flipped them in his hands before catching them.  
"...I do not know what those are…"  
"I do!"  
Farengar stepped up besides the Jarl and raised a hand. Link's wounds healed a second after and the mage grinned.  
"So, I heard you killed a Dragon. Well done! If I'm not mistaken...Those twin daggers go by the names of Dawn and Dusk. The fire dagger being Dawn, the ice dagger, Dusk. I wonder where you found them…They were made by a servant of Azura to please her, but she rejected the weapons, for a reason that is unknown to this day. "

Farengar started to talk about various artifacts of old while the Jarl walked back to his throne, and lifted a magnificent sheathed sword off two hinges that were above his Throne, below the skull of Numinex.  
Irileth took a step forward.  
"What...What are you doing? You're not thinking of rewarding him, are you? Balgruuf, he disobeyed a direct order!"  
The Jarl gazed down at the weapon and smiled, then raised his gaze to his housecarl.  
"Yes. But if he hadn't disobeyed me, all of you would have died. And then what? The dragon would have attacked Whiterun!"  
The Jarl walked back to Link with the sword.  
"No, he shall not be disciplined for disobedience, but rewarded. Link, you have done me, and Whiterun, a great service today. Therefore, I wish you to give you this weapon."  
Balgruuf placed a hand on the sword's hilt and drew it, the blade shining as light from the torches reflected off of it.  
"This, is Numinex's Bane. This very blade slew the dragon whose skull hangs above my throne. My ancestors wielded this blade, it was mine when I was your age, now, it belongs to you."  
He sheathed the sword and held the scabbard towards Link, blade first.  
"Take it."  
The pommel was a blue sapphire, ground to a smooth circle, the hilt was wrapped in fine leather, and the crossguard was twin dragon heads.  
Link silently noted that everyone stepped back a few paces, as he placed a hand on the sword's hilt, then drew it.  
The blade curved inwards for about four inches, then returned to its normal shape, where it came to a point around a foot later.  
But yet, it was glowing softly.  
"Well. At least that theory is true. Legend says that if a Dragonborn holds this sword, it glows. Fascinating..."  
Balgruuf nodded.  
"Link, I have been dwelling on what your reward should be for aiding Whiterun...I believe I have up with something reasonable. I will offer you Breezehome at four thousand Septims instead of the aforementioned price of five thousand, you shall be anointed Thane of Whiterun, and that, if you do accept, you will be the youngest Thane to have ever been anointed in any Hold. Furthermore, Lydia will be your personal housecarl.."  
Unfortunately, being told all of this at once in addition to fighting a dragon and learning that he was 'Dragonborn' was far too much for Link, and everyone watched in mute silence as the boy swayed a bit, then collapsed at Balgruuf's feet.

* * *

"I... _really_ don't think that's going to do much of anything, Lydia."

"You and your fancy magic and health potions...Alright, fine."

Link found himself sitting in a chair in Fangar's study, looking up at the man himself and Lydia.  
The mage half turned, noticed that he was awake, and grinned.  
"Ah, you're awake. Wonderful. How you you feel?"  
"...I suppose I feel alright."  
"Good. As for the state of your clothing...I used an alteration spell. Nothing to worry about. Now, what's the last thing you can remember?"  
"...Receiving that sword?"  
Farengar nodded.  
"Yes, I was worried about that...The Jarl wants to speak to you. He's upstairs, on the balcony. And I'd like to speak to you before you set off."  
The mage helped Link up and let him re equip his weapons before Farengar and Lydia walked Link upstairs to the balcony, where Hadvar and Ralof were speaking to Balgruuf.

"Ah, Link, you're awake. Wonderful. I do apologize for telling you all of that at once. I believe you have questions, so ask away."  
Balgruuf nodded to the two Nords as they stepped past him and walked up to Link.  
"The two of us are heading out."  
"You're leaving? Where are you going?"  
"Well, Hadvar is off to Solitude, because he's with the Imperial Legion, and I need to report back to Ulfric in Windhelm. Don't worry, we'll keep in touch."  
Hadvar started to walk inside but Ralof stopped.  
"Is...Is that what I think it is?"  
Link looked confused for a moment, then realized what the man was talking about and showed him the ring.  
"Yes. I discovered by accident that it has magical properties. Well, Farengar found out and told me. Apparently it helps somehow with archery, though I haven't noticed a difference…"  
"Interesting. Well, I'd best be off. Good luck, Link. You're going to need it."  
Ralof walked off and Link then noticed that Balgruuf had his full attention.

"Sorry about that. As for questions...Yes, I do have some...my first is...What is a Thane?"  
"A Thane is one who is respected by those in the Hold for providing a great service. it is mostly an honorary title, but it does have some benefits, such as you can buy things from merchants for lower prices and sell things for higher prices. Some people take advantage of the...Not so good things being a Thane can inquire, but I believe you won't."  
The Jarl took a gold worn key from his pocket and handed it to Link.  
"That, is the key to Breezehome. The price was five thousand Septims, but for you, I shall only ask four thousand."  
"You don't need to do that, I have enough…"  
"No. I decided it would be four thousand to whoever helped Whiterun, and that person is you, Link. In addition, various furnishings will cost one thousand and eight hundred Septims, and I shall give you a floor plan so you can talk things over with my steward, Proventus Avenicci. Also, Lydia shall be your housecarl."  
"I don't need a housecarl, whatever that is. Really. I'll be fine on my own."  
Balgruuf shook his head.  
"Link, you may not think you need one, but I'm afraid Skyrim is a completely different land than what you're used to. I believe you've already seen some of what Skyrim has to offer?"  
The Hylian nodded.  
"I did. Where's your steward?"  
"Here."  
Link half turned to see a man standing in front of him.  
"I'm Proventus Avenicci. Balgruuf has already given you the key it seems…Now, if you'll just step over here, we'll make sure you have the payment, then I'll help you come up with a floor plan; with you being the youngest Thane to be anointed yet, this shall be _quite_ interesting….

* * *

"Now, you say that you can't use magic, but that doesn't mean you'll not be able to in the future. Therefore, I'm giving you these two spell books. Flames, and Healing. Flames is a fire spell, and Healing...heals you, obviously. I hope you can put them to good use at some point, and if you do, please tell me about it. If you can master these spells, I can teach you new ones."  
Link was back in Farengar's study, the two discussing Link's apparent lack of magic.  
"I'll keep that in mind."  
The mage nodded.  
"Good. So you're heading to High Hrothgar, then?"  
"Yes. The guards were talking about it."  
"...The...You mean Balgruuf didn't tell you?"  
"I never asked and he never spoke of it."  
Farengar shook his head.  
"What are you waiting for? Go ask him before you leave!"  
Link stepped out of the mage's study and walked up to the Jarl.  
"Balgruuf, before I leave, I'd like to speak to you about something. When the dragon died, I absorbed some kind of power from it."

The Jarl looked at Link from his Throne and smiled.  
"So it's true. The Greybeards really were summoning you."

"The Greybeards?"

Balgruuf nodded.

"Masters of the Way of the Voice. They live in seclusion high on the slopes of the Throat of the World."

"What do these Greybeards want with me?"

The Jarl shifted on his Throne.

"The Dragonborn is said to be uniquely gifted in the Voice - the ability to focus your vital essence into a Thu'um, or Shout. If you really are Dragonborn, they can teach you how to use your gift."

Hrongar spoke up.  
"Didn't you hear the thundering sound as you returned to Whiterun? That was the voice of the Greybeards, summoning you to High Hrothgar! This hasn't happened in...centuries, at least. Not since Tiber Septim himself was summoned when he was still Talos of Atmora!

Proventus shook his head.  
"Hrongar, calm yourself. What does any of this Nord nonsense have to do with our friend here? Capable as he may be, I don't see any signs of him being this, what, 'Dragonborn.'"

Hrongar also shook his head.  
"Nord nonsense? Why you puffed-up ignorant...these are our sacred traditions that go back to the founding of the First Empire."

Balgruuf glanced at the two men,  
"Hrongar. Don't be so hard on Avenicci."

Proventus looked a bit guilty.  
"I meant no disrespect, of course. It's just that...what do these Greybeards want with him?"

Balgruuf glared at his steward. "That's the Greybeards' business, not ours."

He then moved his gaze back to Link.  
"Whatever happened when you killed that dragon, it revealed something in you, and the Greybeards heard it. If they think you're Dragonborn, who are we to argue? You'd better get up to High Hrothgar immediately. There's no refusing the summons of the Greybeards. It's a tremendous honor. I envy you, you know. To climb the 7,000 Steps again...I made the pilgrimage once, did you know that? High Hrothgar is a very peaceful place. Very...disconnected from the troubles of this world. I wonder if the Greybeards even notice what's going on down here. They haven't seemed to care before. No matter. Go to High Hrothgar. Learn what the Greybeards can teach you."

"I have more questions."  
Balgruuf waved a hand.  
"By all means, Link, ask away."

"Thank you. What does it mean to be Dragonborn?"

"Well, in the old tales, the Dragonborn heroes would use the power of their Voice to defeat the enemies of Skyrim. Wulfharth was Dragonborn. Talos, too - the founder of the Empire, back in the good old days. In the very oldest tales, back from when there were still dragons in Skyrim, the Dragonborn would slay dragons and steal their power."

"Who are the Greybeards?"

"They're the Masters of the Way of the Voice - of Shouting. They live up on top of the Throat of the World. If you're really Dragonborn, they'll want to talk to you. In the old stories, they always summon the Dragonborn for training."

"How can you protect Whiterun from the dragons?"

Balgruuf thought about it for a second.  
"With good planning and constant vigilance. Even now, Farengar continues his research into ways we might drive back these terrors. We must also have ample reserves of water to combat the fires that will surely spread after an attack. But our greatest weapon? Courage. For if we cannot kill the beast, we must at least have the tenacity to drive it back. Until brave heroes step forward to destroy these monsters, that is the best we can do. Now, I hope I've answered your questions. I believe it's time you left Dragonsreach and go look at Breezehome. I might come and visit one day, when it is not so busy here..."  
Link nodded, said farewell to everyone, then turned around and walked down the steps, then left Dragonsreach.

* * *

He was looking up at a massive dead tree.  
"It's a shame, isn't it?"  
A priestess was sitting on a bench, looking up at the tree.  
"What is?"  
"This is the Gildergreen. It was planted as a seedling in the early years of Whiterun. Disciples of Kynareth could sense something holy in it, and traveled far to hear the winds of the goddess in its branches. They built the temple. Of course, not as many pilgrims these days. It's a bit of an eyesore at the moment. More of a problem for the pilgrims than for me, but not many of them around anymore. A big dead tree isn't very inspiring if you're coming to worship the divine of wind and rains. Kynareth gives life, and we need a living tree to be her symbol."  
"A live tree? Is there a way to make this one come back to life?"  
The priestess nodded.  
"To the east of here is a hidden grove where the Eldergleam resides. It's the oldest living thing in Skyrim. Maybe all of Tamriel. Our tree here in the city was grown from a cutting of that tree. You can still feel the glory of the mother tree through it. It's an old tree. Very old. They say it was a seedling when the first men were arriving from Atmora, thousands of years ago. The sap is precious. It can restore barren fields or bring life to rocks. I can use it to repair the Gildergreen, so we can worship properly like this never really die. They only slumber. I think if we had some of the sap from the parent tree, we could wake up its child. But even if you could get to the Eldergleam, you couldn't tap it. Not with any normal metal."  
"If you really do want to help, you'll need something to cut into it first. Eldergleam is older than metal, from a time before men or elves. To even affect it, you have to tap into the old magic. You'll have to deal with the Hagravens. I've heard about a weapon they've made for sacrificing Spriggans. It's called 'Nettlebane.' The hags terrify me, or I would have gone after it myself."

Link looked up at the dead Gildergreen for a second before he nodded.  
"I'll find a way to restore your tree for you."  
"Your spirit is strong. Kynareth's winds will guide your path. It's held in a Hagraven nest called Orphan Rock, it's North of the road running between Helgen and Ivastead."  
Balgruuf had been kind enough to mark everything on Link's map for him and he quickly found the location for Orphan Rock.

* * *

 _I own a house. An actual house._  
Link was standing before Breezehome, key in hand, simply gazing up at it in mute silence.  
"So, you're the new Thane, I take it?"  
The hylian half turned to see a dark skinned man wearing rich clothing standing before him.  
"I suppose I am."  
"I'm Nazeem, owner of Chillfurrow Farm. Have you been to the Cloud District yet? What am I saying, of course you have, otherwise you wouldn't be Thane. I happen to be _very_ close to the Jarl, by the way, I actually advise him on various political matters."  
"No you don't."  
Nazeem blinked.  
"Excuse me?"  
"Balgruuf never even mentioned you while I was there."  
The man's face grew pale and he took a step forward.  
"You were only there for part of the day, and…"  
Nazeem's gaze moved from Link's new sword to him.  
"...So he gave you that sword, did he? I wonder why, you don't seem like a warrior to me."  
"Is this lowly farmer giving you trouble, Thane?"  
A lone guard was standing nearby, glaring at Nazeem.  
"Not exactly…"  
"Well, if he does start bothering you, just let me know."  
At this point, Nazeem walked away from Link and he was free to enter his new house.

A lit fire pit was in the middle of the room, an empty metal cooking pot with a support rack was placed in the middle of the fire pit. Several herbs and food items hung above the fire pit from the ceiling. To his right was an empty bookshelf with two baskets and a glass bowl. Above the bookshelf were three glasses and an empty grain sack on a shelf. A weapon rack was before the bookshelf, and before that was a cabinet in the corner. On the lower shelf where two grain sacks, on the second shelf was a glass, a ceramic jug, and some plates. On the top shelf was some kind of meat, and three glasses. On top of the cabinet were three candle sets. To his left was a table with two chairs, there was a plate with some sort of meat on it, an empty tankard, a wooden bowl and a ceramic water jug. Above the table were herbs of some kind, and hanging on the wall above the herbs was what appeared to be a round carpet of some sort. The entranceway was covered in a blue rug that had bands of orange and dark blue.

Beyond the left table was a three tiered cabinet that had various items on each of the three shelves. Behind the fire pit was another table with two chairs, a set of candles, a wine bottle, and a lone tankard. A table was up against the right wall, past the bookshelf, and it had two glasses, a bowl, and a ceramic pot on it. Two diamond-crystal shaped windows were above the table. Several wooden pillars placed among the walls had small supporting arches, most likely for the upstairs floor. A lone window was between the two tables.  
Beyond that table was another table, this one had carved designs on the edges, on the table itself was another wine bottle, various cut cheeses, a ceramic jug, a bowl with cabbage in it, and a lone tankard.  
There was a set of stairs to his left, but he wasn't ready to venture upstairs yet. Under the stairs where two wooden crates. And a few wooden barrels behind the crates. To his right was a cabinet, which held various food items. There was a doorway beyond the cabinet, and Link walked into the room to find that it was a fully stocked alchemy lab.

There was a table with three books on it, next to the three books was a ceramic jug and a glass. A chair was pushed up against the table. The alchemy lab was very interesting. A window was on the right wall, and there were more of those round carpet things, one on the back wall and two on the left. Another rug was covering the tile floor, and it was blue with various colors.  
It was finally time to venture upstairs.

Fourteen stairs later, Link was standing in the loft. A table was back against the wall, having only a lone bowl on it. The roof had holes in it for some reason but Link decided he would deal with that later. There was a room off to the right, and he stepped into it to see what it was.  
A table was up against the right wall, it had a bowl, a plate with a cheese wheel, and a wine bottle on it. To his left was a bed and a nightstand which had a plate with lit candles, and two jugs on it. A grain sack was under the bed and there was a rug that matched the one downstairs on the floor before the bed.  
Link left the room. On the back wall was a shield plaque, and three more of those carpet round things. An end table and chair were in the corner. There was just one more room to check.

A table with two chairs was on his right, there was a book, a bowl with raw potatoes in it, and something that Swift called a "Sweet Roll". Before the two chairs was a table with a wine bottle, a cheese wheel and plate, another wine bottle, and a bowl.  
He stepped further into the room. To his left was yet another table, this one had a wine bottle and two tankards on it. A knapsack was besides the table but Link ignored it and continued to check out the room he was in. A chest was up against the left wall, a double bed was on the right, in the middle of the room, and a nightstand up in a corner, which had a single tankard on it. Above the bed was a shield plaque that housed a shield and twin Iron greatswords.

Link walked over to the bed and sat down on the right edge, feeling it sink beneath his weight a bit.

 _I don't believe it. Everything inside this house is mine. I don't even know where to start...Maybe with that alchemy lab? I tested making various potions back home, I could try to make some here...Yes, I'll go do that._

* * *

 _Let's see...Wheat and...Taproot?  
_ Nothing seemed to happen for a second, then the mixture blew up, sending soot everywhere.  
 _No, that wasn't it at all. What was it that innkeeper said? Wheat and Blisterwort?_  
Link added the ingredients and the grey mixture in the glass bottle slowly became a light red color.  
 _Did it work?_  
There was only one way to find out.  
Link picked up the glass bottle, interested a wooden cork, shook the glass bottle, removed the cork, and downed some of the potion. He felt energy coursing through him and he grinned.  
 _A health potion. This shall be very useful._  
 _  
_"I didn't know you were one for alchemy."  
Link set the health potion down on the table and looked behind him. Lydia was standing there in the doorway, a hand on her sword.  
"I...suppose I am. I've made some potions back home and wondered if I could make some here."  
Lydia smiled.  
"Good. How much Blisterwort and Wheat do you have?"  
Link half turned and silently counted each item.  
"Twenty of each."  
"Then you can make twenty more health potions. You're going to need them."  
Link nodded and proceeded to start making the twenty said potions, while Lydia sat down in the chair nearby. _  
_"I strongly suggest that you stay here for the night, but if you truly believe that you must set off tonight, I won't stop you."  
"I've had times where I didn't sleep for two days. I think I'll be fine."  
Lydia gazed at him with concern but didn't say anything.  
A minute later, Link created the last health potion, then gazed at the woman curiously.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"I thought Balgruuf told you. I'm your housecarl."  
"What's that?"  
"A housecarl is something like a bodyguard. I protect you and all you own."  
"I do _not_ need a bodyguard, I can handle myself. Besides, I was alone most of the time back home."  
Lydia smiled wryly.  
"You may not think you need me now, but you might later, when people realize who you are."  
"I can handle threats, I assure you that."  
Several minutes later, after the two bickered back and forth whether if Link truly needed a bodyguard, he said farewell to Lydia and left the house.

* * *

"Link! A moment, if you can spare one."  
Samson was standing a few feet away, carrying a merchants bag on his back.  
"Samson? What are you doing here?"  
"Well, I heard that you were leaving for High Hrothgar. I would like to travel with you, as I have business in Windhelm to attend to."  
"Swift's not traveling with you?"  
The Khajiit shook his head.

"No. She is too busy, Besides, someone has to watch the stall while I'm away."

"True."  
The Khajiit set the bag down and did various stretching exercises, then picked the bag back up and nodded.  
"Shall we be off?"

Lydia had informed Link that he could lock up the house and the inside door would still be unlocked, and that she had an extra key, so the Hylian locked up Breezehome, and they were off.

Before long, the two had reached the stables; a horse was trying to get out of its stall, and several guards were trying to get it under control.  
"You know, they say they found that mare wandering. She had a strange saddle on her back, it's still there, see? From what I can tell, whoever owned her took good care of her. Strong horse, too."  
Samson pointed a clawed finger to the horse, then to her back. The saddle on her back was in fact a Hyrulean Royal Saddle, emblazoned with the Royal Crest on both sides.  
"It can't be…."  
"Can't be what?"  
"...My horse."  
Without even thinking about it, Link took a step forward and whistled. It was three distinct notes, and the mare snapped her head up and gazed in Link's direction, notably not fighting the guards anymore.  
Link continued to walk forward, until he was able to reach out and place a hand on the mare's neck. The creature snorted and gazed down at Link with intelligent brown eyes, then head butted his chest and started nickering.  
"Yes. I know you're scolding me, even though I can't understand you right now."  
"So...This horse is yours, then?"  
Link nodded to the guard that had spoken and the man helped him unlock the stall his horse was in and the creature walked forward until she was out from underneath the structure.  
"It's strange, really, we couldn't get her under control, then you come along and she's fine."  
Link grabbed hold of the saddle horn, put a boot in a stirrup and vaulted upwards and landed on Epona's back, then moved her with the reins to face the guard.  
"I know. Only I can ride her. Thanks for taking care of her for me."  
"Not at all, Thane. And perhaps if I talk to the stable master, your friend can borrow a horse for free."  
After the guard sorted things out with the stable master, Samson grinned, chose a stallion that was black and white in color, vaulted onto the creature's back, and the two were off, racing along the path that led out of Whiterun, off towards Ivarstead at long last.

* * *

The two had been traveling on the path leading east for two hours when Samson suddenly vaulted off his horse and ran for a nearby thicket of trees. The horse the Khajiit had been riding started to run past Link and he caught it by the reins and forced it to stop in its tracks.  
 _What is he doing? I know I shouldn't pry, but I am curious…_  
Link watched the trees for signs of Samson, but when it grew clear that the Khajiit wasn't reappearing for quiet some time, Link got down from Epona's back and eventually got a small fire going.  
After a few minutes, Samson walked over to the fire and sat down on the opposite side of Link.  
"I do apologize...I wasn't feeling well and I suppose traveling for so long didn't help much either."  
"You know you could have said something, right?"  
The Khajiit gave a small nod, obviously embarrassed by what had happened.  
"Sometimes my pride gets the best of me, but what happened is in the past now. To move on...I wish to know about your people, if there are other races where you are from."

Link picked up a few sticks and tossed them into the fire before speaking.

"Hyrule has a very long and detailed history. In the First Era, the Era of the Sky, my race, Hylians, rode around on massive birds that were called Loftwings. There was a Hero, then, too. Legends have it that he's the one that started the supposed curse…The three wielders of the Triforce will be locked in an eternal battle until the end of time. I suppose it's real. After all, I was Chosen, I fought Ganondorf and almost died, I was chosen by the Master Sword…"  
"Master Sword?"  
Link nodded.  
"It goes by a lot of names. Evil's Bane, the Sword of Hyrule, Demonslayer, to name a few. It's a powerful artifact that slays evil creatures and destroys various curses and dark magic. I believe it's somewhere in Skyrim, where, I have no idea."  
Samson shifted a bit.  
"So...what, you're the sword's...protector?"  
"Something like that."

The Khajiit nodded. "I'm going to tell you the creation of Nirn, although I will warn you that this will take some time.

"In the beginning, there only existed chaotic nothingness. From this nothingness arose two beings. Anu, also known as 'Anu the Everything', who personifies order, stasis, and light; and Padomay, also known as "Psjjjj", which is purposely unpronounceable, who personifies chaos and change. These two are counterparts, equal and opposite. Being opposites, they fought each other, and being equals, neither of them won. After this clash, Anu decided to create itself a soul in order to reflect and better understand itself. Padomay did the same. The soul of Anu became known as Anui-El, the representation of Everlasting Light and Soul of All Things. The soul of Padomay would be known as Sithis, representation of Nothingness and The Void. Just like Anu and Padomay, Anui-El and Sithis are equal and opposite forces to each other."One thing of note at this point is that none of these four exist in the same way as the gods that come to follow. They are just shapeless, abstract beings, which is why some cultures do not consider them gods at all, but simply cosmic forces of nature. And even though Sithis is often shown as a skeletal being and is sometimes called "The Dread Father", Anu and Padomay and the two they created lack gender and any tangible form whatsoever."Just like their producesors, Anui-El and Sithis had some disagreements. Instead of fighting, however, they laid out a set of conditions, which would result in the creation of the Aurbis, which is a fancy word for universe. Afterwards, Anui-El created itself a soul, just like Anu did, in order to self reflect. Anui-El's soul was called Auri-El, later known as Akatosh, which would become the chief god of the Divines. Before Auri-El's creation, the Aurbis was turbulent and unstable. Auri-El stabilized it by creating the concept of time."With the Aurbis stabilized, other lesser gods were free to come into existence. These new gods include the beings who would become the Aedra and the Daedra and are collectively called the et'Ada, or "original spirits." Along with these new gods, new planes of existence came into being for the gods to inhabit, Aetherius and Oblivion. And here is where the drama begins."

Samson stopped for a few seconds to get his voice back, then continued.

"Sithis, like Padomay before him, was a copycat and decided to create itself a soul as well, called Lorkhan. It is believed by some that Sithis created Lorkhan with the intention of undoing the work of Auri-El and returning the universe to a state of chaos."Thus began "Lorkhan's Plan", you see, the gods weren't all happy with the planes of existence they had to choose from as their eternal home. Lorkhan approached them with the idea of creating a new plane for themselves. He proposed creating the mortal plane, Mundus, and populating it with beings of their own creation. Many of the original spirits, including Arui-El, were convinced that this was a great idea. However, there was just one problem. Although Anu and Padomay were infinite and could create without consequence, Arui-El and the rest of the et-Ada were not. In order to forge their creations, the gods were giving up pieces of themselves, making them less powerful. Allegedly, Lorkhan knew about this from the start."Many of the gods realized what was happening and opted to leave Mundus before it was complete while they still had the chance. The chief among these was Magnus, the architect of Mundus, whose departure tore tore a hole through Aetherius, creating the sun and allowing magicka to flow into Mundus from Aetherius. The rest of the gods departed made smaller holes resulting in the stars. The last of the remaining gods in Mundus were understably very upset that they had lost much of their divine power. Auri-El created the Adamantine Tower on Nirn, which would remain standing on the isle of Balfiera in the Iliac Bay for all of history thus far. The remaining gods gathered there to decide Lokhan's punishment in the monumental event with the boring name, "The Convention." It was decided that Lorkhan's Heart would be removed and destroyed. Upon removing it, however, it was discovered that Lorkhan's Heart couldn't be destroyed.""Lorkhan either died in the creation of Nirn or was killed by the other remaining gods, or either exiled. Then his Heart was removed and it was intended that the Heart be destroyed, but it was not because Nirn would have been destroyed as well for some reason. Instead of destroying it, Auri-El fired the Heart from his bow into the sea, where it wouldn't be discovered. The Heart was so powerful that Red Mountain formed around it, whose laval flows created the island of Vvardenfell. After the Convention concluded and Lorkhan was dealt with, some of the Gods were able to leave Nirn and maintain some of their power, but not enough to return to Aetherius, and so were permanently confined to Mundus."This group of gods would eventually be known as the Eight Divines. Auri-El, also known as Akatosh, Arkay, Dibella, Julianos, Kynareth, Mara, Stendarr, and Zenithar. Talos would not become a Divine for a very long time, so I shall not speak of him now. The Eight created their own realms within Mundus, which can be seen from Nirn as planets. One final group of gods were either unable to leave Nirn or decided to stay and continue their work., even after learning of the consequences. They were left with none of their Divine power and became the Ehlnofay, who in order to continue their existence, resorted to procreation and they would become the origins of the species of Men and Mer on Nirn. I believe that is mostly everything.""Now you know how Nirn was created. I am wondering though, how was this...Hyrule created, Link?"  
"It varies from different races, but for mine, the three goddesses, Eldin, Lanayru, and Farore appeared one day, and created Hyrule. Din, the Goddess of Power, created the earth that we walk on, Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, created order and intelligence, and Farore, the Goddess of Courage, created life. Hylia created the various races of Hyrule and taught them to live and work together. The Three left Hyrule, and at the point where they left, the Triforce was created, as well as the Sacred Realm. The Triforce is a powerful artifact; there's three pieces. Wisdom, Power, and Courage. There's been three wielders, known as Champions, in each Era so far, including mine. Ganondorf had Power, Zelda had Wisdom, and I, Courage, although I have it again, for reasons I haven't figured out yet."

Link showed Samson the symbol on his left hand and the Khajiit nodded.

"The Triforce, when complete, grants the user a single wish, and it doesn't care if the wish is good or bad, it simply grants it. As for the Sacred Realm, I suppose it's like Sovngarde. All spirits from all races reside there, and the past Heroes and their Companions reside in a mansion, secluded from the rest of the Sacred Realm."  
"The past Heroes of Skyrim reside in the Hall of Valor. Us Khajiit have the realm of Leswere, or the Sands Behind the Stars, the Argonians' bodies return to the Hist and their souls swim in an endless river, the Nords have Sovngarde, as you know, the Bretons, Altmer, Imperials, and Bosmer all believe they ascend to Aetherius when they die, the Redguards venture to The Far Shores, the Dunmer souls stay and persist, guiding their descendants and the Orcs venture to the realm of Malacath in Oblivion, known as the Ashpit.  
Those who are blessed and cursed with lycanthropy will go to the hunting realms of Hircine in Oblivion, while Vampires go to Molag Bal's realm of Oblivion, Coldharbour. Clavicus Vile's realm is unknown and no one knows how it is in there, he just collects souls for the sake of having them. Nightingales of Nocturnal become guards in her realm of Oblivion. Those who pledged themselves to Sheogorath or have gone mad go to the Shivering Isles. There are other realms, but I do not think you need to know of them now."

It was an hour later, the two had hunted for food, killed two hares, and were now waiting for the meat to cook.  
"Do you still want to know about the races where I'm from?"  
"Yes, if you feel like telling me."  
"I might as well, it'll pass the time. My race, Hylians, have a separate magic source than those that live here in Skyrim. Magic is internal for us, meaning we can't use actual magic ourselves, but we can use weapons and items that have magic. However, a few people throughout history have been able to use actual magic. The Gorons are rock people, meaning they're actually made of rocks and eat rocks for food. They're the most powerful race, only second to Zoras, which are fish people. Being fish people, they can swim underwater and their armies are quite large. The last Race is the Gerudo. The Gerudo are made up of only women, and they...dislike men. No one knows why."  
"That sounds problematic."  
"It is, every Hero has had problems with them, me included. Fortunately, they bent their rules enough to help us."  
"Good. May I ask you something?"  
Link checked the hare meat to see if it was done."Depends on what you're asking."  
"Of course. Have you heard of Moon Sugar and Skooma?"  
"Not really."

"Well…"  
Samson looked around, then took out a small glass bottle filled with a purple liquid.  
"This is Skooma. My people are fond of it. It alters your mind, and some people will pay good coin. After this trip, I am done selling it. It is far too dangerous."  
Samson put away the Skooma and took the second rabbit from the stick and started eating it.  
"You seem to know a lot for just a mere merchant."

"I like to read and study ancient texts."

"You said that could be a scholar? I think you should be one."

"Maybe. But if I get accepted into Winterhold, what would Swift do without me?"

"Bring her with you."  
The cat looked up. "But what about the merchant stall?"  
"I think they'd let you set up there. It wouldn't hurt to ask."  
Samson nodded, then it was silent for a bit as the two teens ate their meal.

* * *

"Link! Link, wake up! We've got company!"  
Samson's yowl abruptly ended the Hylian's rest and he bolted upright to a sitting position, then looked around.  
"What?"  
"Bandits."  
Link grabbed _Numinex's Bane_ and got up, then drew the sword.  
"How many?"  
The cat shook his head, his eyes shining in the moonlight.  
"Five? Six? I can't tell. But we should be quiet, I think."  
"I don't think it's any use being quiet anymore, Samson, they know we're here already."  
The Khajiit nodded and raised his gaze to a nearby tower, where both of them spotted movement.  
"You're not a warrior, are you?"  
The Khajiit's eyes moved back and forth, his tail swishing back and forth from anxiety.  
"No. But I suppose I will have to be one now."  
Samson reached to his sides and drew two daggers.  
"Where did you get those?"  
"Swift. She gave them to me."  
"Good. Make sure to thank her when you see her again."  
The cat grinned.  
"Oh, I will, believe me, but I have to survive this, first!"  
An arrow whistled through the air and hit a tree near Samson, then the five bandits appeared.  
The leader stepped forwards, holding a two handed war axe.  
"Alright. Hand over your Septims and weapons, and we'll let you go."  
Link stepped in front of Samson and raised the sword.  
"How about we don't give you our things and you walk away from this without a scratch?"  
The bandit chief grinned.  
"Hey, you're that new Thane, right? I bet you're walking around with all the Septims you own right now. Hand them over, and we won't hurt you or your friend."  
Link flipped the sword in his hands around with ease and pointed it towards the bandit chief.  
"I don't think so."  
"Your funeral."  
A second later, Link and Samson were fighting for their lives.

Link ducked under a bandit, then hit him on the head with the sword's pommel, received a gash on his right arm from another bandit, spun around, swung the sword in the bandit's direction and the man went down, not getting up. Meanwhile, Samson had stabbed one bandit with the daggers and was fighting the other with just his claws.  
The last bandit hit the grass and the chief looked impressed.

"It's not every day we deal with milk drinkers, but you two? You're warriors, I'll give you that, but I'm not done yet."  
Five more bandits appeared and as Link and Samson raised their weapons, the chief swung his axe and struck Link with the flat of the blade in the side of his head.  
He went down to one knee, his vision doubled, but then he got up and proceeded to draw Dawn, the fire dagger, and stab one bandit in the chest with it, then pulled the dagger out and stabbed another bandit with it.  
"Link! Behind you!"  
The Hylian pulled the dagger from the bandit's chest and spun around to see the axe bearing down on him.

When his vision came back, what remained of it was focused on Samson, who was being restrained by the three remaining bandits. The chief walked up to him, the axe covered in blood.

"Still alive? You won't be for long if someone doesn't find you."  
The man lifted the axe a bit and the blood reflected from the moonlight.  
"This is your blood, did you know that? Oh, and don't bother about trying to fight me. You dropped your sword and I doubt you can pick it up in your current state."  
The bandit chief walked behind him and sent him to the grass with a kick to his back.  
"Take everything he's got save for his clothes and that sword."  
"You don't want the sword?"  
"No! It's the Jarl's sword! I dunno why he has it, but we can take everything else. And maybe figure out where this cat's caravan is so we can raid them."  
"I told you! I don't have a caravan! I'm a mere merchant!"  
A yowl of pain from Samson as the chief did something.  
"Yeah, maybe, but you've got to have goods hidden somewhere. Let's get back to the towers.'"  
The last thing Link heard was Samson yelling his name again, then everything was gone.

* * *

Ralof had watched the entire fight from the lookout point. When he saw Link get hit not once, but twice, and finally go down, his heart stopped for a second.  
"We have to go down there."  
He said this to no one in particular, but the leader of this group, a man named Ashler Fanter, nodded.  
"I saw the whole fight. Shame what happened to the lad, he held his own for quite a while. Let's get down there and put an end to those bandits."  
The rest of the Stormcloaks cheered and the twelve soldiers ran down the hill and to the towers.

Ralof and Ashler stopped besides the prone figure on the ground, and Ralof knelt beside him.

"Do you think a healing potion would do anything?"  
"Couldn't hurt to try."  
Ashler handed Ralof a health potion and the Nord gave it to Link, who awoke a few seconds later and gazed up at Ralof with confusion.  
"I was on my way to Windhelm when I stopped to check in on the camp here. It's a good thing I did. Can you stand? You're friend needs rescuing, if the other Stormcloaks haven't already rescued him."  
The boy thought about it for a moment, then nodded, and the two Nords slowly got him up, standing on his own, then Ashler handed Link his sword.  
"You can get your bearings if you want. Ralof, with me."  
The two Nords started to run for the towers, but stopped halfway as the other Stormcloaks ran out of the first tower, the lead one holding a bounty poster, while a Khajiit darted away from the group and over to Link.  
After checking with Ashler and taking the bounty poster from the Stormcloak that had killed the bandit chief, Ralof walked back over to Link.  
"Here. Don't know if you accept bounties or not, but I'd say you scored a victory today. It's fitting, don't you think?"  
The Nord offered the bounty poster to the boy, who took it from him and looked down at the drawing of the man that had nearly killed him before he nodded.  
"Where do I collect the bounty?"  
"Turn the bounty in to Proventus, I assume you've already met him?"  
Ralof received a nod from Link, and Ashler walked up to him and returned his stolen items, the rest of the Stormcloaks grouped up, one of them lead the two horses over to Link and Samson, and, after getting situated, the group was off towards Ivarstead.

It took awhile for the group to reach Ivarstead. In that time, since Link had nothing better to do, he decided to read the book he had found in Bleak Falls, which held information on how to perform the illegal art of pickpocketing. He didn't want to admit it, but he had had to perform pickpocketing and breaking and entering back home, simply because there was no other option. After all, the fate of Hyrule had been at stake, and sometimes, following the laws and rules wasn't even on the table.  
After reading a bit more of the Thief book, Link put it away and took out the Flames spellbook, read a bit of it, then tried to cast the spell. Nothing happened, and he tried to cast it again. Still nothing.

"Trying to learn magic? It could be that you're from another realm, since you mentioned your magic is different than ours."  
The Hylian glanced sideways at Samson and then nodded.  
"Maybe. Learning magic would be useful."  
"I'm sure you'll learn it eventually."

It was around an hour later that the town of Ivarstead came into view. Samson stopped on the bridge and smiled sadly.

"This is where we part ways for a time, my friend. I wish you luck in your journey."  
"Yours as well, Samson."  
The Khajiit and his horse took off at a gallop down the other path, towards Windhelm, as well as the Stormcloaks, Link stayed where he was until they had disappeared from view, then he flicked Epona's reins and the two walked off the bridge and entered Ivarstead.

* * *

Two men were standing near the bridge.  
"On your way up the 7,000 Steps again, Klimmek?"

"Not today, Gwilin. I'm just not ready to make the climb to High Hrothgar. The path isn't safe."

"Aren't the Greybeards expecting some supplies?"

"Honestly, I'm not certain. I've yet to be allowed into the monastery. Perhaps one day."  
The man named Gwilin walked off and Klimmek stayed where he was as the old man watched Link approach.  
"Hello. I'm heading up to High Hrothgar. I could take your supplies for you if you want, Although I am wondering what they are."  
Klimmek smiled. "I appreciate that. The supplies are simply just foodstuffs, dried meat and salted fish, that's all. May I ask why you're traveling up there?"  
"Supposedly I'm Dragonborn, everyone told me I needed to speak to the Greybeards."  
The old man's eyes widened.  
"So it was you who...The whole of us heard shouting from the mountain a few hours ago. I suppose that shout was for you, eh? My supplies aren't that heavy, maybe ten to twenty pounds, but you look like you can carry a lot. There's a chest up there, before the monastery doors, simply place the supplies in there. Though, I suppose if you're entering the monastery, you can just carry them in. And there's wolves up there, so be careful."  
Link got down from Epona's back, handed the reins to a nearby stablemaster, paid the man the necessary Septims for the horse to be stabled, took the supplies from Klimmek, glanced up at the mountain before him, then started up the Seven Thousand Steps.

On his way up to High Hrothgar, Link discovered several ancient tablets that were carved with words. The first one he encountered not even twenty steps up, and it read: ' _EMBLEM I Before the birth of men, the Dragons ruled all word was the Voice, and they spoke only for True Needs. For the Voice could blot out the sky and flood the land.'_  
 _I wonder who carved this, and if there are more of them. I wonder how long it'll take me to climb all of this._  
The Hylian glanced at the tablet for a few seconds before he continued up the steps.  
Five wolves were staring him down ten minutes later. It was silent for a bit, then the lead wolf howled and then the wolves darted forward. However, they weren't expecting him to turn wolf.

Link slammed into the alpha male, sending the beast back a bit as the other four closed in.  
One wolf snapped at him and he bit it in the leg, then received a gash on his right side from another wolf. He whirled around, fangs bared, and lunged for that wolf's throat. His fangs connected, spraying blood all over him as the wolf slowly died. Link dropped the corpse, looked down at it for a moment, then ducked instlctly as a wolf snapped its jaws where his head had been a second before. Link whirled around, sending snow everywhere, and his fangs found fur. He bit down, until he heard a crack and the wolf below him screamed and started thrashing around. He dropped the beast, having broken its back, then mercy killed it with a skull crushing bite. A third wolf lunged at him, which he sidestepped, then raked the claws of his front left paw down it's face, blinding it, then Link finished it off with a bite to the neck.

Then, an unbearable pain in his left shoulder. His vision went white, he heard something scream in agony, and when his vision came back, a wolf was standing over him, her muzzle covered in blood. Link risked raising his head a bit and glanced down at his left shoulder. He could see bone and the wolf shuddered and moved his gaze to the wolf whom he knew to be the alpha male's mate. He didn't want a confrontation, and hopefully the two surviving wolves knew that.  
Before he could move, the female wolf left his field of vision and he looked down past his chest; the female wolf was uncomfortably close to a certain region of his body. However, before the wolf could do anything, Link surged upwards and slammed into her, knocking her to the ground.

Then, the Alpha Male slammed into _him_ , Link turned and half blinded the other wolf with a bite to the face, then raked his claws down his neck, sending blood droplets everywhere. The other wolf roared and bit down on his left shoulder - the same place his mate had bit Link. Link's vision went white and when he could see again, he was covered in various wounds and it hurt to breathe. He lunged forwards, not towards the male, but for the female, and his jaws closed over her neck and he bit down. The wolf died instantly and he heard a scream behind him before the male wolf grabbed him and threw him backwards. Link landed in the blood stained snow and rolled over just before the male wolf's fangs bit the air where his head had been a second before. As Link got up, the other wolf roared again, then slammed into him. The black and white wolf braced himself, then clawed at the other wolf's stomach, tearing a hole in the beast's belly and therefore disemboweling him. The older male screamed and then fell to the snow, thrashing around, before Link put the wolf out of his misery with a death bite to the head.

It was silent, save for the surviving wolf's ragged breathing. Link gazed down at the dead wolves, then as the adrenaline wore off, pain coursed through his battered body and he started shaking uncontrollably. The wolf's body voided itself as he was violently ill, then he blindly stumbled away towards the landing, where he collapsed and stared up at the sky, still shaking uncontrollably.  
 _Focus. Try to calm down, need to heal myself...Need to...No, I can't fall asleep here, I'll die if I do._  
The wolf got to his paws, then surged upwards. Before the transformation was complete, Link had already downed one health potion and was feeling somewhat better.  
 _I'm more concerned about my shoulder wound than anything else. How many health potions is it going to take to heal it? Can I even fight in my current condition? ...I shouldn't risk it._  
He picked up the supplies bag from where it had fallen, downed another health potion, just to be safe, and kept walking up the steps while trying to distract himself from what had happened, well aware that he was covered in blood, both his own and the wolves'.

It was about four hundred steps before he found the second tablet, and there was a man praying in front of it. The second tablet read: ' _EMBLEM II Men were born and spread over the face of Dragons presided over the crawling masses. Men were weak then, and had no Voice.'_

 _Voice? What is that?_  
"Traveling the Steps, are you? You met the wolves, obviously judging by your current state."  
The Nord who called himself Barknar got up and studied Link's shoulder wound, then dug around in his knapsack for cloth bandages and started binding the wound.  
"Yes. What are you doing up here?"  
"I like to come up here ever once in a while, mediate, walk the steps, bag game…"  
"Do you know of the Greybeards?"  
"They're not the sort to take visitors, but I never go that high up the path anyway. Some folk who make the trip leave them food or other essentials, but not to make conversation. I heard them, by the way, everyone did. Shouted something, a name, it hasn't happened in centuries. There, your wound should be alright. Might hurt to fight things, but you'll live."  
Link thanked Barknar and continued walking up the Steps.

It was around five hundred more steps until the third tablet.  
The third tablet read: ' _EMBLEM III The fledgling spirits of Men were strong in Old Times. Unafraid to war with Dragons and their Voices. But the Dragons only shouted them down and broke their hearts.'  
Interesting. _  
The sun was setting quickly, far too quickly for Link's liking. He then got an idea, picked up a fallen torch, then hit it against the tablet. The torch caught on fire and Link used it to navigate the Steps.

The next tablet was around six hundred steps up.  
The fourth tablet read: ' _EMBLEM IV Kyne called on Paarthurnax, who pitied Man. Together they taught Men to use the Voice. Then Dragon War raged, Dragon against Tongue.'  
Paarthurnax? Who is that? _

A woman was meditating before it and he started to walk past her, then stopped.  
"Hello."  
The woman who called herself Karita looked around, then saw Link and nodded.  
"Hello. What brings you up here?"  
"Just...Traveling. Did you hear the Greybeards?"  
"Yes. I was outside Ivarstead when I heard them. It hasn't happened in centuries, you know."  
"What are you doing up here?"  
"Just meditating. I do this every few years. Barknar fixed your wound, didn't he? He's good at that, healing people."  
Link nodded, thanked Karita for speaking with him, then started to walk up the Steps again.

A frost troll was sitting on the path. Unfortunately, there was no way to avoid it, but it hadn't noticed him yet. However, Link got an idea and raised the torch he was holding, then darted forwards and threw it in the creature's face. While it was distracted, the Hylian slung his bow off his back, notched an arrow, and fired. The arrow hit the creature in the third eye and it roared, then swung at Link, who ducked, then fired another arrow, then drew Dawn and stabbed the troll in the right arm. The fire dagger burnt the troll and it roared, then Link ripped the dagger from the troll's arm, vaulted up to its neck, then stabbed it in the throat. It died instantly, Link threw himself away from the troll's corpse as it fell to the ground and he landed in the snow. The Hylian got up a few moments later, looked down at the dead troll, then kept walking.

The fifth tablet, which was ten steps up, read: ' _EMBLEM V Man prevailed, shouting Alduin out of the world. Proving for all that their Voice too was strong. Although their sacrifices were many-fold.'  
So these people fought Alduin once and won, that's good, I suppose. _

The sixth tablet, which was four hundred and seventy steps up, read: ' _EMBLEM VI With roaring Tongues, the Sky-Children conquer. Founding the First Empire with Sword and Voice. Whilst the Dragons withdrew from this World.'  
So the Dragons left, and now they're returned. And I guess I have some role in all of this. _

The rest of the tablets were a thousand steps apart, save for the tenth one, which was two thousand steps after the ninth.  
The seventh tablet read: ' _EMBLEM VII The Tongues at Red Mountain went away humbled. Jurgen Windcaller began His Seven Year understand how Strong Voices could fail.'  
Seven years? That's a long time to meditate. _

The eighth tablet read: ' _EMBLEM VIII_ _Jurgen Windcaller chose silence and returned. The 17 disputants could not shout Him down. Jurgen the Calm built His home on the Throat of the World.'  
So...Windcaller's home is High Hrothgar? _

The ninth tablet read: ' _EMBLEM IX_ _For years all silent, the Greybeards spoke one name. Tiber Septim, stripling then, was summoned to blessed and named him Dovahkiin.'  
_ There was a statue of some sort on top of the ninth tablet.

 _Is this Septim? And there's that word again...Dovahkiin._

The tenth and final tablet read: ' _EMBLEM X The Voice is worship. Follow the Inner path. Speak only in True Need.'  
Inner path? What is that? _  
As soon as Link read the final tablet, he somehow felt stronger, more at ease, then he noticed he was standing before a massive building.  
 _This must be it._  
Link put the supplies in a lone chest outside the building, then walked up the steps, and entered High Hrothgar.  
An old man in monk robes approached Link, raised his hands in greeting, and then smiled.  
"Welcome, Dovahkiin. We have been expecting you."


	10. I'm Dragonborn?

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 10:**_ _ **I'm...Dragonborn?**_ _ **  
**_ **Retrieving** _**Nettlebane**_ **shall be in this chapter. And a weapon/item makes an appearance...**

* * *

"So...a Dragonborn appears, at this moment in the turning of the age."

Link didn't say anything at first, but rather gazed in silent awe at the building he was in, before he moved his gaze to the robed man before him.

"I'm answering your summons."

The man nodded.

"We will see if you truly have the gift. Show us, Dragonborn."

"You call me Dragonborn. What does that mean?"

"First, let us see if you truly are Dragonborn. Let us taste of your Voice."

Link somehow knew what this man meant, he hesitated for a moment, before the strange energy manifested as he said "Fus", and there was somehow a _boom_ as the energy seemed to strike the old robed man.

The monk merely gazed at Link before he smiled and nodded.

"Dragonborn. It is you. Welcome to High Hrothgar. I am Master Arngeir. I speak for the Greybeards. Now tell me, Dragonborn, why have you come here?"

"Who are you? What is this place?"

The man motioned for Link to follow him to the center of the room and he did so.

"We are the Greybeards, followers of the Way of the Voice. You stand in High Hrothgar, on the slopes of Kynareth's sacred mountain. Here we commune with the voice of the sky, and strive to achieve a balance between our inner and outer selves."  
"I want to find out what it means to be Dragonborn."

Arngeir nodded.

"We are here to guide you in that pursuit, just as the Greybeards have sought to guide those of the Dragon Blood that came before you."

This was new.  
"You mean I'm not the only Dragonborn?"

The Greybeard shook his head.

"You are not the first. There have been many of the Dragon Blood since Akatosh first bestowed that gift upon mortalkind. Whether you are the only Dragonborn of this age...that is not ours to know. You are the only one that has been revealed thus far. That is all I can say. We are honored to welcome a Dragonborn to High Hrothgar. We will do our best to teach you how to use your gift in fulfillment of your destiny."  
"What is my destiny?"

The Greybeard motioned for three other robed figures to join him and Link in the center of the room.

"That is for you to discover. We can show you the Way, but not your destination."

Link nodded.  
"I'm ready to learn."

Arngeir smiled.  
"You have shown that you are Dragonborn. You have the inborn gift. But do you have the discipline and temperament to follow the path laid out for you? That remains to be seen. Without training, you have already taken the first steps toward projecting your Voice into a Thu'um, a Shout. Now let us see if you are willing and able to learn. When you Shout, you speak in the language of dragons. Thus, your Dragon Blood gives you an inborn ability to learn Words of Power. All Shouts are made up of three Words of Power. As you master each Word, your Shout will become progressively stronger. Master Einarth will now teach you "Ro," the second Word in Unrelenting Force. "Ro" means "balance" in the dragon tongue. Combine it with Fus - "Force" - to focus your Thu'um more sharply."

Einarth waved a hand and then said a word, somehow imprinting the 'Word of Power' as it was called, on the stone floor.  
"Ro…"

The symbol glowed and then it was gone, and also somehow in Link's head.  
 _Balance...Alright, learning these words doesn't seem too hard.  
_ Arngeir's voice broke Link's thoughts.

"You learn a new word like a master...you truly do have the gift. But learning a Word of Power is only the first step...you must unlock its meaning through constant practice in order to use it in a Shout. Well, that is how the rest of us learn Shouts. As Dragonborn, you can absorb a slain dragon's life force and knowledge directly. As part of your initiation, Master Einarth will allow you to tap into his understanding of "Ro.""

Link half turned towards the Greybeard named Einarth, who smiled at him.  
It was as if something in his mind unlocked. Link was hardly aware that Einarth was bowing to him, as he was more occupied with the fact that he somehow now knew the true meaning of Ro, it felt something similar to when he absorbed - was absorbed the right word? - Mirmulnir's soul.

Arngeir eyed Link for a moment, then nodded again.  
"Now let us see how quickly you can master your new Thu'um. Use your Unrelenting Force shout to strike the targets as they appear. Master Borri, if you do not mind..."

The Greybeard named Borri nodded, then Shouted.  
" _ **Flik Lo...Sah!"**_

Some sort of target appeared. It appeared to be a spectral form of a Greybeard, and Link eyed it before he tested out Ro.  
"Fus...Ro?"

Again, there was a _boom_ as the energy from the Shout struck the target and it vanished.

Arngeir smiled and nodded.  
"Well done. You should notice that your Shout is more focused. Use that to your advantage. Again. Master Einarth."

" _ **Flik Lo...Sah!"**_

Link didn't hesitate this time and the target was gone.

Arngeir: "You learn quickly. Once more. Master Wulfgar."

" _ **Flik Lo...Sah!"**_

Again, the target vanished and it was quiet for a few seconds, then Arngeir began to walk out of the room.

"Impressive. Your Thu'um is precise. You show great promise, Dragonborn. We will perform your next trial in the courtyard. Follow Master Borri."

A few minutes later, the four Greybeards were outside, standing on a stone circle.

Arngeir stopped walking and half turned.

"We will now see how you learn a completely new Shout. Master Borri will teach you "Wuld," which means "Whirlwind.""

Borri nodded and merely said: "Wuld…"  
The Word of Power inscribed itself on the ground and then it was gone.  
 _...Whirlwind...Seems powerful enough. I wonder what it does._

"You must hear the Word within yourself before you can project it into a Thu'um."

 _...Right. I think I understand._

"Approach Master Borri and he will gift you his knowledge of "Wuld.""

Link and Borri eyed each other for a few moments, then he again felt as if he was absorbing Mirmulnir's soul again, even though he wasn't.

Argnier nodded.  
"Now we will see how quickly you can master a new Shout. Master Wulfgar will demonstrate Whirlwind Sprint. Then it will be your turn. Master Borri."

"Bex!"

As soon as the man said this, a gate opened nearby and Wulfgar walked in front of it, then Shouted.

" _ **Wuld. Nah...Kest!"  
**_ The Greybeard somehow seemed to shoot across the area and through the gate before it could close.

"Now it is your turn. Stand next to me. Master Borri will open the gate. Use your Whirlwind Sprint to pass through before it closes."

"Bex!"

Once again, the gate opened, and Link gazed at a moment before he tested out Wuld.  
"Let's see if this works...Wuld."

Another _boom_ was heard and then he was somehow on the other side of the gate, on the ground from when he had tripped a moment before.  
Link looked around in confusion before he heard footfalls, and he picked himself up from the snow, then half turned to see Arngeir before him.

"Your quick mastery of a new Thu'um is...astonishing. I'd heard the stories of the abilities of Dragonborn, but to see it for myself…"

"I thought it was this easy for everyone."

"No. Indeed not. But beware that your skill does not outstrip your wisdom."

"I don't know how I do it. It just happens."

"You were given this gift by the gods for a reason. It is up to you to figure out how best to use it."

"Thank you. What's next?"

The three other Greybeards had gone back inside High Hrothgar already, and Arngeir waved a hand for Link follow him.

"You are now ready for your last trial. Retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, our founder, from his tomb in the ancient fane of Ustengrav. Remain true to the Way of the Voice, and you will return."

"Why are the dragons returning? Does it have something to do with me?"

"No doubt. The appearance of a Dragonborn at this time is not an accident. Your destiny is surely bound up with the return of the dragons. You should focus on honing your Voice, and soon your path will be made clear."

"Thank you, Arngeir. I will continue my training."

"Good. Then you will be ready for whatever lies ahead."

"Surely there's more you can tell me."

"There is indeed much that we know that you do not. That does not mean that you are ready to understand it. Do not let your easy mastery of the Voice tempt you into the arrogance of power that has been the downfall of many Dragonborn before you."

"What does it mean to be "Dragonborn"?"

"Dragons have the inborn ability to learn and project their Voice. Dragons are also able to absorb the power of their slain brethren. A few mortals are born with similar abilities - whether a gift or a curse has been a matter of debate down through the centuries. What you have already learned in a few days took even the most gifted of us years to achieve. Some believe that Dragonborn are sent into the world by the gods, at times of great need. We will speak more of that later, when you are ready."

"Why are Shouts in the dragon language?"

"Dragons have always been able to shout. Language is intrinsic to their very being. There is no difference in the dragon tongue between debating and fighting. Shouting comes as naturally to a dragon as breathing, or speaking. In mythic times, when mortalkind was in great need, the goddess Kynareth granted us the ability to speak as dragons do. For most people, long years of training are required to learn even the simplest Shout. But for you, the dragon speech is in your blood, and you learn it almost without effort."

"There are only four of you?"

"Five. Our leader, Paarthurnax, lives alone on the peak of the Throat of the World. When your Voice can open the path, you will know you are ready to speak to him."

"When can I meet your leader, Paarthurnax?"

"As I said, you will know you are ready when your Voice can open the path to him."

"Tell me about the Greybeards."

"We study the Way of the Voice, according to the teachings of our founder, Jurgen Windcaller. Very few are permitted to study with us here at High Hrothgar. But in your case, Dragonborn, it is a privilege to guide you towards mastery of your Voice."

"Why don't the others talk?"

"Their Voices are too powerful for anyone not trained in the Way to withstand. Even a whisper could kill you."

"Who was Jurgen Windcaller?"

"He was a great war leader of the ancient Nords, a master of the Voice, or Tongue. After the disaster at Red Mountain, where the Nord army was annihilated, he spent many years pondering the meaning of that terrible defeat. He finally came to realize that the gods had punished the Nords for their arrogant and blasphemous misuse of the Voice. He was the first to understand that the Voice should be used solely for the glory and worship of the gods, not the glory of men. Jurgen Windcaller's mastery of the Voice eventually overcame all opposition, and the Way of the Voice was born."

"What is the "Way of the Voice"?"

"The Voice was a gift of the goddess Kynareth, at the dawn of time. She gave mortals the ability to speak as dragons do. Although this gift has often been misused, the only true use of the Voice is for the worship and glory of the gods. True Mastery of the Voice can only be achieved when your inner spirit is in harmony with your outward actions. In the contemplation of the sky, Kynareth's domain, and the practice of the Voice, we strive to achieve this balance."

"But I don't follow your philosophy. Why help me learn the Voice?"

"The Dragonborn is an exception to all the rules - the Dragon Blood itself is a gift from the gods. If we accept one gift, how can we deny the other? As Dragonborn, you have received the ability to Shout directly from Akatosh. We therefore seek to guide you on the proper use of your gift, which transcends the restrictions which bind other mortals."

"I will try to follow the Way of the Voice."

"That is commendable. But remember, the Dragon Blood itself is a gift from Akatosh. Do not try to deny that gift. Your destiny requires you to use your Voice - why else would Akatosh have bestowed this gift upon you? If you remember to use your voice in service to the purpose of Akatosh, you will remain true to the Way."  
The Greybeard took Link's map and marked the location of Windcaller's Tomb before handing it back.  
"Now, is there anything else you would like to ask me?"

"..Ah...Do you happen to know where Orphan Rock is?"

"Orphan Rock...Yes, I do in fact know where it is. It's exact location is…"

* * *

A few hours later, Link found himself riding Epona as the two traveled down a stone path. He had spent some time trying to learn the two tomes Farengar had given to him before he had left, but to no avail. Perhaps it was because he had already learned in theory all there was to know about the two spells. Besides, he had never really been one for magic, even on his journey back home, and Midna had been the one to deal with magical knowledge and how to wield it.  
He suddenly heard her voice, clear as day, as if she was still traveling with him.  
" _Trying to learn magic? It's not an easy process, I'll have you know. I'm sure that if you keep at it, you'll eventually get the hang of it."  
_ The Hylian shook his head to clear it, then noticed that he had managed to wander into a Stormcloak camp.

There were around ten soldiers gathered around a campfire and all of them got up. Some gazed at Link with suspicion while others made as if to draw their weapons. In response, the Hylian got down from Epona's back and he silently noted that the Stormcloaks seemed to ease up a bit.

"Where'd you get that armor?"  
A man walked up to Link, looked him up and down, then walked in a circle around him before ending up back in front of him.  
"Ralof gave it to me."  
Link self consciously adjusted his own set of Stormcloak armor as he said this and the man gave a firm nod, silently noting how large the armor seemed on him.  
"Ralof's a good man. If he trusts you, then I suppose we can do the same. Alright, follow me."  
As the soldiers took Epona away to be stabled and the leader, who introduced himself as Hararne Eriksen led him over to the campfire, Link learned that, observing from his current position, Orphan Rock was a valley with a stony grass covered plateau in the middle of the valley, only reachable by a fallen tree. But he would dwell on getting up there later.  
Once they were seated by the campfire, Hararne asked for Link's name, and he of course gave it.  
"So, Link, mind telling us what brings you to this location?"  
His gaze moved from Hararne's face, to the ground, and back up to Hararne as the Hylian tried to think of some response. Finally, he decided to tell the truth.  
"I'm here to retrieve Nettlebane so I can restore the Gildergreen in Whiterun."  
The entire group of Stormcloaks started laughing at the very thought but it soon faded when they realized that Link was indeed serious about retrieving the dagger.  
"Look, I know what happened to the tree in Whiterun, I know that Hagraven has that dagger, but I'm afraid we can't let you go up there."  
"Why not?"  
Hararne shifted a bit and gazed at Link before speaking.  
"Do you even know what Witches and Hagravens are?"  
"No."  
The Stormcloak sighed and shook his head.  
"...You don't even know what you're going up against. Hagravens gave up their humanity for more power. Witches are women who are training to become hagravens. Both can cast spells and are very dangerous, regardless if they're together, in separate groups, or alone."  
Various other Stormcloaks nodded and Hararne's face fell a bit when he got a response.  
"That doesn't seem so bad."  
"Maybe to you, but to us, it is. We're not letting you go up there by yourself."  
Link thought this over.  
"What if all of you attacked the Witches at once?"  
Another soldier shook his head.  
"No. In fact, we should be out there, scouting-"  
"We should be focusing on our own mission, not wondering about when our next battle will be."  
Hararne cut the other man off and Link realized that the man had been about to give away the reason they were out there. So he changed the subject.  
"Aren't you supposed to be the protectors of Skyrim? Doesn't clearing this place of evil creatures help towards that?"  
Hararne looked down in thought. Then he looked at his comrades behind him, then back at Link, this time eyes full of determination.  
"Yes. Yes it does. Tell you what, you want to get that dagger? By Kyne, we'll help you get it!"

* * *

After some time, the group reached the center of the valley after dodging several elemental and spike traps that they had observed before leaving the camp.  
The plateau seemed to be empty from where Link was standing and he noticed a dead tree that seemed to lead up to it before he heard one of the Stormcloaks yell something, then the Witches attacked the group of soldiers a few seconds after.  
The Hylian caught a flicker of light in the corner of his vision and he spun around, only to see what appeared to be a ball of fire heading straight for him.

Due to his previous experiences in Hyrule, he had dodged many, many fireballs, it was merely timing after all.

Link dove to the right and hit the ground, only just missing the fireball. However, the spell still managed to singe his right shoulder and he cursed himself inwardly for being so careless.

For a moment, he thought he was safe. After all, he had dodged the spell, what else could happen?

Then the fireball hit the ground and promptly exploded.

Link felt as if he was covered in flames for a few moments before the sensation faded. He had a notion that he was now injured, but he ignored it and got up, discerning that the fireball had come from the plateau.

 _That must be where the Hagraven is. I just need to get up there._

Link recalled seeing a dead tree earlier and eventually found it. However, before he could get close enough to the dead tree to walk up the trunk, a Witch appeared before him.  
The two stared at each other for a moment, before the Witch summoned lighting and threw it at him. Link dodged the attack and ran up to the woman, who pulled out a knife and swung it at him. There was a _clang_ as the knife flew through the air, having been deflected by Link's sword.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to try harder than that to kill me."

The Hagraven cast another fireball, however, Link managed to dodge the attack and it hit a nearby tree and set it on fire.

The Witch cursed at him before summoning more lightning and attempted to throw it at Link, but he was faster.

He Shouted.

 _ **"Fus, Ro!"**_ Using the Shout in combat felt exhilarating.

There was once again a _boom_ as the wave of energy forced the woman back, staggering her, and while she was distracted, the Hylian swung _Numinex's Bane_ , attempting to merely slash the woman's neck for a quick death. However, he underestimated his own strength, for the woman suddenly moved to regain her balance and her head was cut smoothly from her shoulders.

The Hagraven cast yet another fireball in Link's direction, which he swiftly dodged, then he ran towards the dead tree that was leaning against the plateau, but before he could set foot on the dead tree, it caught fire and Link was forced backwards a bit. He stared at the burning tree for a few seconds before he made up his mind and ran up the burning trunk, well aware that he was receiving injures in the process, and managed to reach the plateau just before the tree burnt away and what remained of it fell to the valley floor.

Something slammed into him and he went flying to hit what he thought to be a fallen tree, before he fell to the ground and found himself looking at... _something._  
"What is it that you seek?"  
The creature could speak, it appeared to be a cross between a bird and a woman.  
"...Are you a Hagraven?"  
The creature blinked. When it spoke, its voice was raspy and barely understandable. Which made sense, considering how hideous this creature looked.  
"What sort of question is that? Of course I am a Hagraven, now answer my question!"  
At least the thing hadn't attacked him yet.

Link slowly got to his feet and kept his distance.  
"I'm here for Nettlebane."  
The glint of metal got his attention - the creature was holding some sort of dagger.  
"This? It's mine, I'm afraid."  
Link shook his head.  
"Sorry, but Whiterun needs it more than you do."  
The creature before him screeched and darted towards him, the dagger raised high in the air.  
Link dodged the attack, drew _Numinex's Bane_ , and spun around, the blade cutting into the Hagraven's side. The thing turned on him and cast some spell, which he blocked with the sword. However, doing so caused him to fall to the ground and drop the sword, the Hagraven grinned and prepared to fire another spell at him.  
The Stormcloaks were still fighting the Witches, so they wouldn't be of any help. No, Link had to deal with this alone.  
However, he didn't have that many options, and he was running out of time to make a decision.  
He used Unrelenting Force, but all it did was stagger the Hagraven, and it kept advancing...  
Perhaps in sheer desperation, or because it was the one thing he could do, the Hylian held out his right hand towards the thing advancing on him and yelled "flames".

Fire. From seemingly nowhere, it struck the creature in the face and she started screaming and clawing at her face as she stumbled backwards.  
Link stared at the spectacle for a moment before he moved his gaze to his right hand. A fireball rested in his palm; it didn't hurt, it was just...there.  
 _Magika?_  
He felt a strange sensation running up his arm, like some sort of energy.  
 _Strange. It doesn't hurt...In fact it almost feels welcoming.  
_ Link heard something and looked up at the Hagraven, who was screeching about letting her guard down.

"You're going to pay for that! Once I kill you, I'll eat your heart and ears! Elven hearts and ears are a delicacy, I'll have you know! Especially elven children!"

The thing continued to curse at him until Link got up and cast Flames at the Hagraven.

"One, I am not a child, I am seventeen years of age, and two, I'm not an Elf, I'm a Hylian."

The creature let out a deafening screech. Of course, Link couldn't hear now. But he didn't need to hear to finish off the Hagraven.

The Hylian de-summoned the fire before he drew the twin daggers, then ran forwards and stabbed the creature in the heart.

Whether it was due to his own natural healing, or if the Hagraven didn't try hard enough to truly deafen him, Link never knew, but he regained his hearing shortly after the battle and he realized that a Stormcloak was yelling his name.

The Hylian walked over to where the voice was coming from and looked down to find the soldiers looking up at him.

The unnamed Stormcloak spoke again.

"Stay where you are, we'll find something that you can get down from there with."

"I don't plan on going anywhere, you can be well assured of that."

They seemed to take that as an answer and Link heard them presumably talking to each other about how they were going to get him down from the plateau.

He knew it would take a while, so Link picked up his fallen sword and cleaned it on the Hagraven's clothing before retrieving the twin daggers. There was something underneath the body and Link kicked the corpse over to find the dagger the creature was holding. Link picked up the weapon and examined it.

The entire weapon was ebony-green in color with root like patterns on the pommel, hilt, and blade. The pommel was curved, with various designs engraved into it. Further up, about three inches, more engraved designs were in the hilt, just below the crossguard. The blade itself had even more engravings and was six inches, and the flat of the blade was straight while the edge curved inwards and into the blade itself before becoming straight, until it sharpened to a point.

Past the dagger, he noticed some sort of body lying on the ground; he walked over and examined it, discovering that it was the 'tree' he had hit earlier.

As Link was examining the strange creature, the adrenaline he had felt began to fade, and with it fading, the pain he had been ignoring made itself known.

The pain wasn't nearly as bad as his first time becoming a wolf, or the wounds he sustained during his fight with Dragmire, but they still were painful.

The Hylian thought of using a health potion, but then realized that there was one other spell he hadn't tested yet, and so he tested it then.

Even though the Healing spellbook had said to turn the palms of the hands inwards while casting the spell, Link still felt a bit ridiculous in doing so.

Right after he said the word "heal", the pain began to fade and his wounds began to close and heal as if he had used a health potion.

"I think I can get used to using Magicka."

The Stormcloaks found him sometime later, sitting up against a tree, flipping Nettlebane into the air and catching it by the hilt.  
"So you found it, then?"  
Link caught the dagger as it fell towards the ground and nodded towards Hararne.  
"Yes."  
Another Stormcloak ran up and said that there were two people in a tent, most likely captives, and that a lone Witch was keeping them prisoner.  
Hararne nodded, then looked down at Link.  
"Would you like to have the honor of rescuing them?"

* * *

Two people that seemed be Nords were sitting in a tent, hands tied together. The two were arguing about something.  
"Look what you got us into."

"It wasn't my fault, you were the one insisting that we run in here with little to no armor."

"I didn't know there would be that many things waiting for us, okay?"

"I knew this was a bad idea from the start."  
The man shifted and eyed a lone Witch at the other side of the clearing.  
""I do _not_ like the looks that Witch is giving me."  
The woman grinned.  
"It's because of your looks, isn't it? No wonder countless women seem to pass out when they see you."  
The Witch walked over to the man and bit the air in front of him, causing him to yelp loudly and the woman merely smirked in his direction.  
"What was that?"  
The man ducked his head in embarrassment.  
"I didn't know you could be so loud."  
"It's not like I had any choice."  
There was movement from the shadows and the Witch collapsed to the ground, blood splattering the grass as the body landed with a dull thud.  
"...I think we have company."

* * *

Link gazed down at the dead Witch for a moment before he tore his gaze away and noticed two tied up Nords staring at him.  
"Hello."  
The two Nords continued to stare at him until the silence was uncomfortable, then the woman nodded and said "hi" back.  
"Do you mind telling me what you were doing here?"  
"Being captured."  
The woman rolled her eyes at the male Nord.  
"We were studying Orphan Rock and mapping it when those things tied us up."  
Link walked over and cut the ropes of the two Nords with his sword, freeing them and the two got up.  
Surprisingly, they didn't seem injured, just very annoyed that they had been tied up, which was understandable.  
"Thanks." The Nord woman rolled her shoulders, then took a step back and looked her friend up and down.  
"Were you always that tall?"  
The Stormcloaks had walked up to the tent by now and the two Nords were surrounded and talked to.

The woman managed to get away from the group and found Link reading scripture on a table.

"Hey."  
The Hylian nodded, acknowledging her presence.  
"It's a good thing you showed up when you did. Listen, my friend and I, we found something."  
The Nord walked behind the tent and the two spoke to each other as the woman started tossing things around.  
"Ah, here it is. It's a good thing the witches and that thing didn't find it."  
"That 'thing' is a Hagraven."  
Her companion responded from inside the tent as the man subsciously rubbed his wrists while speaking with the Stormcloaks.  
"Whatever. It didn't find it."  
The woman came back with a magnificent staff of some sort, then held it out to Link, who took it tentatively, then gazed at it. When he looked back up, the two Nords were gone.  
"...Where…"  
Hararne walked over.  
"They had somewhere they needed to be. Didn't get their names."  
Link nodded, as he figured that was a reasonable answer, then examined the staff. He found that it resembled an ancient weapon back in Hyrule, it even had the Triforce emblazoned on the hilt, and the Hylian held it away from him a bit, as if to test the weapon, but then decided to test the weapon on the way back to the camp.

The group exited Orphan Rock and began the six minute walk back to camp.

The stormcloak who had told him to wait earlier introduced himself as Eren Fetid and was now walking next to Link. Eren looked at the weapon Link was carrying.

"That staff looks strange. Have you looked at it yet?"

This caused Link to examine it again. He realized that it was in fact from Hyrule and he had a suspicion about what the weapon actually was, but he needed to test it first to be certain. He held it away from him, towards the stone path, and pressed a switch on the side of the staff. The blood-red orb sitting at the hilt began to light up and then it unleashed a wave of magical fire.

"Did you see that? That staff is powerful. Does it have a name?"

Link activated the staff again, then grinned.

"After all this time and I found it. My people named it the Fire Rod."

It _was_ indeed the Fire Rod. Link knew the weapon had seemed to have been lost to time, it had been mentioned in previous eras and in other Hero's journals, but he had never seen the weapon in person before now.

Eren sighed and he shook his head.

"At least we didn't have to deal with any damn soul gems. We were lucky those Witches didn't use any for their weapons."

Link was now flipping the Fire Rod up into the air and catching it while it was powered on; he caught Hararne glaring at him and the next time he caught it, he powered off the weapon and focused his attention on Eren.

"What are soul gems?"

"Soul Gems come in various sizes. They're needed for enchanting weapons and armor, and are used for recharging magical artifacts. Black Soul Gems, now those are the worst. Those hold the souls of people."  
"How do these Soul Gems work?"

Eren gave Link a look of concern before speaking.

"There is a spell called Soul Trap that you use to trap souls in Soul Gems. But you have to kill whatever you cast Soul Trap on, or else it will wear off, and you need to have an empty Soul Gem with you.."

Link nodded and silently vowed to never use Soul Gems. He didn't want to kill anything necessary, and taking souls sounded evil.

He was lost in thought for a few moments when Eren asked him about what magic he had back home.

"Magic users in Hyrule are rare, and the artifacts use the magical power of the wielder even if they aren't mages. I suppose I'm one of the few exceptions now."

Link raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, thus summoning Flames with ease and he merely gazed at the embers sitting in the palm of his hand before moving his gaze to Eren.

The Stormcloak smiled.  
"You know, I'm from Winterhold. You may or may not have heard of it, it's famous for a college for mages. Which I hate because they act like asses all of the time, but you? You're okay in my book. And, you seem to know exactly what you're doing."  
"Well I'm very glad to hear that, Eren."

The camp had come into view by now and the group stopped just outside it. Link noticed that some of the Stormcloaks were talking about food and he de-summoned his magic.

"If you don't mind, I could cook for you."

Hararne gazed at Link for a second, then started laughing.

"Are you now? Well, what do you plan on making us?"

"I need a goat of some sort, and various herbs. I don't know what grows here in Skyrim so you're all going to help me out with that."

Eren grinned.

"We can definitely help you with that."

* * *

Eren had finished two bowls of the food Link had come up with and was wanting even more. The kid had left the group around five minutes before and had walked into the nearby forest, saying that he "needed time to think things over." Eren knew better. All of them knew better, they had been his age once, but it was possible that was really what he was doing.  
Hararne walked over and sat down beside Eren.  
"Well, did he tell you what this was?"  
The man nodded.  
"Said it was something called 'Ordon Goat Stew', but then went on to say that it would taste different than what he was used to because Skyrim has different breeds of goats."  
Hararne grinned.  
"Well, if our variant tastes this good, I wonder what his version tastes like, yeah?"  
The two were interrupted by Link appearing from the forest and Eren raised a hand in greeting, which he returned.  
"Well? Did you think things over?"  
He said this quieter than usual and Link nodded.  
"Good. I won't ask what you were doing in there, not my right to know.  
The kid gave him a grateful look and Eren smiled, then gestured to a lone bedroll.  
"You look tired. The bedroll's yours, if you want it."  
Hararne got up and walked over to talk to other Stormcloaks, Eren watched him leave, then when he looked back at the bedroll, Link was already passed out on it.  
However, Eren overheard the others talking about Link moments later.  
"Did you see how strong he is? How he fights? And he used the Thu'um! The lad's Dragonborn!"  
Hararne walked back over to Eren.  
"What do you think he was doing in there?"  
"That's none of your damn business. You wouldn't want anyone to ask you, would you? No? Then don't ask him. If he wants us to know what he was doing, he'll tell us."

* * *

Several hours later, Link had woken up and was staring at the night sky from the bedroll he had found himself lying on. It was peaceful out here, mostly quiet, and he could finally just think about everything that had happened. But then he heard a faint sound, one that was familiar, and he sat up and looked towards the south, eyes narrowed. The sound was a roar, and it belonged to a Dragon.  
He felt something respond within him, he felt the strange sensation of his blood boiling, and that caused him to get up and walk across the camp, a hand on the hilt of his sword, and he stopped just before the edge, gazing up at the sky.  
The Dragon roared again, only this time the sound was farther away than it had been, and, as if sensing there would be no fight, the sensation faded, only to be replaced with a freezing cold that didn't seem to be going away.  
It seemed that despite not being as cold as Snowpeak in Hyrule, Skyrim's weather had a certain bitterness to it. Link stood where he was for a moment before deciding that being in the same tent with other people was better than potentially freezing to death, so he walked over to his bedroll, picked it up, and sought out the nearest tent; where he found a place where he hopefully wouldn't be kicked by sleeping people, tossed down the bedroll, and drifted off shortly after, not waking until morning.


	11. A Dragon, Jester, and Countless Bandits

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 11: A Dragon, a Jester, and Countless Bandits**_  
 **A request to the guest reviewer impressioning various people: please keep doing that, I enjoy your reviews.  
**

* * *

Link was the last one to wake up and leave the tent the next morning.

Eren was sitting by the lit fire and looked up as he approached. "Ah, you're up. Good. We didn't want to wake you, so we let you sleep in." The man waved a hand towards the forest. "There's a hidden stream about twenty feet back if you want to freshen up."

Link nodded, thanked Eren, then walked towards the forest.

When Link returned to the camp, Haranre called him over to the campfire. "Link, your fighting yesterday was something I've never seen before. And the others say that you're Dragonborn. Now, I saw the Shouting for myself, but for one so young..." The Stormcloak shook his head. "Akatosh must have chosen you for a reason."

Link started to say something but Hararne held up a hand to silence him.

"I have a proposition for you. You'll have to speak to Ulfric formally, but for now I suppose my choice will do. How would you like to join us?"

The conversation was cut short by a distant roar. It grew closer, and closer, until a Dragon appeared from the South.

As soon as Link laid eyes on the creature, he felt the strange sensation again of his blood boiling. He took a few steps forward and drew Numinex's Bane, ignoring the questions of the Stormcloaks about the weapon.

The Dragon flew overhead and locked gazes with Link, who heard some sort of presence in his mind. _**"Dovahkiin."**_

The Hylian shook his head to clear it, then the Dragon landed with an earth-shaking thud and eyed Link curiously, ignoring the Stormcloaks.

"You don't look like much, but nevertheless my lord will be pleased with your death." The Dragon sucked in air, then used Frost Breath. _**"FO...KRAH DIIN!"**_

A thick fog left the dragon's maw before hitting them, then the moisture in the air turned into frost on their skin. The feeling seemed to fade and the group rushed the Dragon, stabbing any spot they could.

Link ended up near the Dragon's neck and he raised his sword, then drove it into the side of the creature's neck. The Dragon roared again, then used Elemental Fury. _**"SU...GRAH DUN!"**_

The Dragon's wings started to beat faster and the creature roared again as he swung his wings back, attempting to hit the Stormcloaks as they continued to stab him. Everyone was thrown backwards, including Link. He hit the ground hard and laid there for a few seconds before he got up, unlatched the Fire Rod from his shield, and pointed it towards the Dragon. A beam of magical fire hit the beast in the side and it roared. The Dragon swung his right wing at Link, the claw caught the Fire Rod and sent it sailing across the clearing.

Link cast Flames, attempting to blind the Dragon, but the beast lunged forwards and rammed his head into Link's chest, knocking him to the ground. However, the Dragon's maw seemed to be slightly burned.

Link got up and backed away, then used Whirlwind Sprint to dodge the Dragon's second Frost Breath Shout. The creature tried to lunge towards Link but was hit with a barrage of arrows from the Stormcloaks.

The Dragon was distracted for a few moments, which allowed Link to discern where the Fire Rod had landed. He used Unrelenting Force against the Dragon before he started to run across the clearing, intending to retrieve the Fire Rod.

Link reached the Fire Rod, picked it up, then used Whirlwind Sprint again to get close to the Dragon. He was close enough that he could use the Fire Rod, so he activated it, aimed the weapon at the slash in the Dragon's neck, then fired.

If anyone had been nearby, they would have seen what appeared to be a fiery explosion. When everyone could see again, the dragon was dead, half of his face burnt away.

"Well. it's dead. That's good, yeah? - Wait, what is that?" No one answered Eren as golden-blue tendrils of energy emerged from the dragon's corpse and began to surround Link. Then they disappeared and the dragon's body started to burn away, eventually leaving only its skeleton.

The Hero of Twilight gazed at the skeleton for a few seconds before shaking his head and walked over to the Stormcloaks, who started asking him questions. "Yes, I am Dragonborn. Yes, I really did just absorb that Dragon's soul. I suppose with me bring Dragonborn, it's up to me to stop the Dragons." Link stopped speaking for a moment, then moved his gaze to Hararne. "About your offer..."

"Yes?"

"I haven't decided if I want to join yet, but if I do join, you'll be the first to know."

Harane smiled and clapped a hand on Links left shoulder. "Good. When you reach Windhelm, tell Ulfric what happened here. Normally, he doesn't let anyone under the age of seventeen into the Stormcloaks, but you, you would most certainly be an exception."

* * *

There was a desolate feeling in the air when Link ventured into Helgen, or what was left of it.

However, he didn't have long to look around before two bandits stepped out from behind the gates. The attackers rushed him, but Link merely drew the twin daggers, caught their weapons, tossed them away, and then stabbed both of them at the same time. After a few moments, Link pulled the two daggers out of the bandits and let their bodies fall to the dirt.

After a few moments, the Hylian knelt beside the bodies, looked at them for a few moments, then stood up. _'I don't like this at all. This isn't who I am, I don't run around killing people. However they were going to kill me, so I had to act in self defense.'_ he thought bitterly as he started up at the sky. _'What am I supposed to do? Just leave them here?'_

Had it really only been eight days since he had been here, awaiting certain death until the dragon showed up? Link took a step forwards, gazing up at the tower at the other side of the ruined village.

 _The Dragon had Shouted something. He had sent massive fireballs down from the sky, destroying the village._ Whoever the Dragon was, he was certainly powerful.

Three more bandits walked into view. For some reason, one of them was wearing robes, and the man cast some sort of spell that instantly seemed to freeze him. Or at least seemed to cover his face in frost so he couldn't see his surroundings.

While Link tried to shake off the effects of the spell, the two other bandits ran up to him and attempted to attack him. Link tried to dodge, but due to the spell, he wasn't fast enough, and he received a slash to his armor around his left upper chest, while the other bandit slammed the pommel of his weapon down on his right shoulder, making him drop his shield.

Link drew his sword in time to block the first bandit's attack, the two weapons sending sparks flying as they collided. The force of the block caused the bandit to lose his balance and Link ended the man's life with a stab to the chest. As the man fell to the ground, Link leapt backwards to avoid getting his armor slashed by the second bandit, then used Unrelenting Force to send the man backwards. Due to the man being off balance, he was killed swiftly with a slash to the neck.

As the second bandit fell, Link focused his gaze on the magic user, then summoned Flames and started walking towards him. The surviving bandit grinned and readied a spell of his own, then cast Frostbite at Link, who casted Flames. The two spells collided mid air and somehow stayed there. Both magic users didn't notice as the Frostbite spell seemed to overpower the Flames, before the Flames seemed to overpower the Frostbite; as they were focused on channeling their spells. Eventually, both spells exploded, sending fire and ice in all directions.

Link wasted no time leaping forwards, drawing Dusk from his side, and stabbed the bandit mage in the heart.

After downing one health potion, cleaning the dagger, and collecting his shield and sword, Link took a step back, then took off at a run towards the pile of rubble in front of him, then jumped when he got close enough.

No sooner had he vaulted over the rubble and got to his feet, an arrow flew through the air and embedded itself in his right shoulder. The Dragonborn hissed in pain and then half turned, only to find himself gazing at six bandits - an archer in the tower, one right next to him, one off to his left, two in front of him, and one behind those two.

The five bandits on the ground rushed Link, but were soon driven back by the Fire Rod, as the Hylian was using the weapon as a staff. He blocked attacks from one, stunned a bandit by hitting him on the head, tripped two more, and finally powered the thing up and burnt the five bandits, making them retreat a bit.

Then, the archer fired again, however, Link dodged the arrow, unslung his bow from his shield, notched an arrow, then fired. In the near distance, the bandit fell from the tower, a hand to his torn neck, then the least injured bandit rushed Link, weapon raised high, before an arrow appeared in his chest and the man fell.

The remaining bandits surrounded Link, weapons raised high. "Give it up kid, can't you see that you're surrounded?", said the one he had blocked attacks from, before the men rushed him.

* * *

Stones scattered as the pure blooded war horse thundered down the road to Riverwood, her sides heaving and her eyes rolling from how fast she was being ridden. Of course, she had never been ridden this fast in her life, but there was a sense of urgency, even Epona knew that, and she sensed that something had happened to her friend, to Link.

The mare had been told to wait at the gates of the ruined village, she had heard sounds of fighting, many sounds of fighting, and there had been a scream, a scream that made her want to kill those that had attacked Link, but they were already dead. He reappeared sometime later, his right shoulder wrapped in bloodied bandages, his face pale - a shaking hand was holding a bloodied arrow shaft.

The Hylian hadn't said a word to her as he vaulted onto her back, then, for the first time in his life, Link had kicked Epona in the sides, and she had started to run. She hadn't stopped once since then.

And here they were, two hours later, still running. The gates of Riverwood were in view, the guards were already looking in their direction, obviously concerned, but Link had no intentions of stopping in Riverwood. However, even though he had downed two more health potions, for whatever reason, the arrow wound hadn't healed. In the meantime, he had reslung his bow onto his shield and had slung his shield onto his back.

In the two hours since he had left Helgen, all Link could think about was the fact that he had killed men that most likely had friends, families, but they had tried to kill him, so what was the better reasoning - the fact that he was still alive, and injured, or the fact that he wasn't more wounded than he was?

Link didn't think to stop in Riverwood to stock up on supplies and heal himself, he simply continued on towards Whiterun. In addition to his wounded shoulder, another thing the health potions hadn't healed was a purple toned bruise on his face that was painful to the touch. But the bruise was minor compared to the shoulder wound.

Link wasn't quite sure how he managed to get to Whiterun. He supposed Epona simply knew how to get there, as he certainly didn't remember the journey. It was dawn when the two of them walked up to the main gates. For some reason, they were open, and the guards let Link through without any problems.

Epona simply walked towards Breezehome, the mare's ears flat against her head, as if she was agaited about something. As soon as the horse stopped before the front door to the cottage, Link fell from her back but caught himself on the door handle, pulled himself up, ignored Samson yelling his name, unlocked the door, pushed it open, staggered inside the house, then collapsed before the firepit.

Epona let out a wild bray as Samson ran up to the house and stopped in the doorway. Lydia appeared on the top floor, looking down at the commotion.

"I told him to be careful!" said the woman as she walked down the stairs and knelt next to Link, who showed no signs of waking.

"You." Lydia raised her gaze to Samson. "Go get Farengar. Now!"

The Khajiit didn't need to be told twice and he turned and started to run towards Dragonsreach.

* * *

"It's lucky he arrived when he did, a few more hours, and I'm afraid that even with his race's healing abilities, he would have been beyond help." Farengar had been at Breezehome the entire day, tending to Link, and the mage frowned as he examined the arrow shaft that Link was still holding. He gently opened the boy's hand and lifted the arrow shaft to examine it further, noticing that it was broken at the end.

He turned to Samson and gave the cat a binding cloth. "Wrap this around his chest and make sure it's tight, I don't want the poison to spread any further than it already has. I need to cut the arrowhead out as well." The court mage showed Samson how to tie the tournet on Link's shoulder and arm before Samson did the same for Link's chest.

The cat felt strange being this close to his friend's skin - at the moment he was wearing naught but a pair of tan breeches, his weapons and other clothing were on a table nearby.

"He has a lot of scars, doesn't he?" Farengar sounded both impressed and worried and Samson nodded, then pulled up a chair and sat down on it, merely looking at his oblivious friend on the bed in the master bedroom of Breezehome. It was going to be a very long night.

* * *

Link had no idea where he was for a few moments. Then he recalled Helgen, riding Epona to Whiterun, then the sensation of falling...

He bolted upright, before noticing a tightness on his arm, shoulder, and chest. There were cloth bindings wrapped around them, and besides those, the tan breeches, and the cold metal necklace, he wasn't wearing anything.

"Link! It's about time you woke up!" Samson appeared in his field of vision, his sharp fangs bared in a grin.

Farengar was there as well, looking relieved. "I suppose I would have woken you sooner but I decided not to. Let me remove those cloth bindings for you..."

The mage did just that, then Link got up from the bed and threw on a white cloth shirt and dark blue pants, then half turned to gaze at the two. "Where's my armor?"

Samson smiled. "It was too damaged to be of use. However, you can buy new armor at Warmaiden's. That's the blacksmith next door, in case you didn't know. If you did know, then I suppose I am just reminding you."

Farengar picked up the broken arrow shaft and showed it to Link. "You removed this broken arrow yourself, didn't you? Normally, I'd call you foolish, but I suppose there was no choice in the matter. Where did you get injured, by the way?"

Link lowered his gaze to the wooden planked floor before meeting the mage's gaze. "Helgen. There were eleven bandits. And yes, I did remove the arrow after it was safe to do so."

Farengar shook his head. "You didn't remove all of it, I'm afraid." He picked up a bloodied arrowhead and showed it to Link "This arrowhead was tipped with poison. When you removed the arrow, you only snapped the shaft. You're lucky you didn't die before you reached Whiterun."

Link knew Farengar wanted to know what happened, so he reluctantly told him and Samson his ordeal at Helgen. He told them of killing the two guards with the daggers, killing two bandits, using his magic against a mage, killing him, then getting shot with the arrow, then stabbing a bandit, shooting the archer that had shot him, shooting another bandit, then of the remaining bandits surrounding him. However, at that point, Link stopped speaking and simply gazed at the floor in silence. He then heard Samson say his name, he looked up, half turned, and then the cat hugged him.

Link stood there for a moment, taken aback by the sudden kind gesture, before returning it. Samson stepped back and placed a hand on Link's left shoulder. "You survived that. You will survive whatever happens next, yes?"

Then that cat's gaze settled on something on the table and his blue eyes widened. "Link! The bounty! You remember, we were attacked at that tower, and those Stormcloaks saved us? They found a bounty and gave it to you to turn in at Dragonsreach!"

Link turned back to the table and picked up the bounty and studied it before he placed it back on the table, then started to equip his gear and weapons.

"Where are you going?"

Link ignored the court mage's question for a moment before speaking. "To Dragonsreach, where else?"

"Since you mentioned that you managed to learn magicka, I have something to give you." Farengar placed two tomes on the table. "These are two healing spells, a bit more advanced than the one you've learned. Go on, I want to see how fast you learn spells."

Link picked up the first tome and read its title. It was called Fast Healing, and he opened the book. but before he could read the first page the book turned into dust!

Seeing the shock and slight panic on Link's face, Farengar chuckled before talked. "I see you can read them like anybody else now." Seeing Link get further confused he started explaining. "You see, generally when we write spell tomes, we put an enchantment on the book so when opened they send the information on how to cast the spell directly into the person's mind. It destroys the spell book in the process."

Link took a breath to calm down. Yes, he could sense the new information he got from the book. He picked up Dusk, made a small cut on his left arm, then attempted to use the spell. The cut on his arm healed and Farengar grinned.

"Here, try this one, this one is called Healing Hands and you use it to heal others."

The Hylian moved the first tome to the side, took the second tome from the mage, opened it, and it too disappeared into dust, then motioned for Samson to step closer to him, made a small cut on the cat's right arm with Dusk, then recited the new spell.

Just like his own cut, Samson's cut healed as well and Farengar started hopping up and down in excitement, as if he were a small child. "Excellent!"

Ignoring the mage, Link picked up the bounty and showed it to Samson. "You're traveling with me to Dragonsreach, because you're getting half of this."

* * *

Proventus Avenicci turned out to be the one that dealt with bounties, and he gave Link the two hundred Septim reward, which he then split with Samson. After the two left Dragonsreach with one hundred Septims more in hand than what they had entered the building, the two parted ways, with Samson returning to his stall while Link ventured down to Warmaidens.

Ulfberth War-Bear and Adrianne Avenicci were discussing various things when Link entered Warmaidens.

"I swear, Ulfberth! How does that Battleborn expect me to complete this order? I'm not even halfway through it yet!"

The man started to reply but then noticed who was standing near the counter. "So you're the new Thane, then? We haven't been properly introduced, I'm Ulfberth War-Bear, and this is my wife, Adrianne Avenicci." Link shook the man's hand, then Ulfberth studied him for a second. "What's your name, son?"

"Link Farmanne."

The man gave a firm nod. "A fitting name. You look like you have the mind to buy something. What can we do for you?" The Hylian looked around the building for a minute, eyed the merchandise on the counter, then moved his gaze to Adrianne.

"I'd like to buy some armor."

Adrianne looked Link up and down, then grinned. "New armor? What happened to that Stormcloak uniform you were wearing?"

"I was too careless and it got slashed."

The woman nodded. "I see."

"What armor do you sell?"

"Iron."

"I think I'll buy a set then."

The blacksmith eyed Link, then nodded again. "Well, I think I have a set in your size. Wait here and I'll go check in the back." Adrianne left the counter and Link was left alone with Ulfberth.

Ulfberth spoke up after a few seconds. "Do you know why this place is named Warmaiden's?"

Link shook his head. "No. Why is this place named Warmaiden's?"

The older man smiled. "This place is named after my wife. Adrianne, her father gave her the nickname when she was just a child. I hear she played around with swords even back then." Ulfberth paused for a second, then spoke again. "Do you know of blacksmithing? I figured since...You seem to know about weapons and armor, that you could help with my wife the order. Now, you don't have to take up on my offer if you don't want to."

Before Link could respond, Adrianne came back with a set of armor and laid it out on the counter. "I've got gauntlets, greaves, a helmet, a pair of boots, and chestplate. Try these on for me, will you? I'll need to adjust them if they don't fit exactly, of course."

After several minutes, Link was wearing the set of armor save for the helmet and the woman was walking around him, adjusting the armor when needed. "Where are you going that you need this armor anyway?"

"Ustengrav."

Adrianne simply gazed at him. " _Ustengrav_? That's up near Morthal! What are you going there for?"

"The Greybeards asked me to go there to retrieve something for them."

"Oh. Well, in that case, I suppose it's right that you head there." Adrianne stepped back from Link and motioned to the helmet. "Put that on, I want to see how you look in the full set."

* * *

Several minutes later, Link found himself outside of Warmaidens, having donned the Iron Helmet and paid Adrianne two hundred and thirty five Septims for the set. He had also bought fifty arrows for fifty Septims. It felt strange wearing armor, more so wearing a helmet. He hadn't been one for armor, for his chainmail under his tunic had been enough. However, Skyrim was a lot different from Hyrule, and that required armor as well as better weapons.

The Hylian decided to chat with Swift and Samson before he left, and as he was walking towards their stall, he realized that he wouldn't have gotten that bruise at Helgen if he had been wearing a helmet. Not that he was going to say that, of course. However he was slightly worried that although the bruise was gone, where it had been hurt every so often. Link decided it was nothing to worry about and kept walking.

"Link! That armor suits you!" Samson grinned as his friend walked up to the stall and Swift simply stared.

"How can you swing that sword around with arms like that?"

Even though the Argonian and Khajiit couldn't see much of Link's face, his physical reaction told them that he was greatly embarrassed by Swift's comment, as their friend merely looked at the ground and unconsciously shifted from one foot to the other for several seconds.

Finally, he seemed to compose himself. "I've never really thought about it before."

Swift nodded. "I am wondering about that, though. You look like you've never worked a day in your life, yet you obviously swing that greatsword around."

Samson nodded. "I do not understand why you are so embarrassed about your arms. Us Khajiit do not care."

"It's different for you because you have fur."

The cat held out his arms in front of him and studied them for a moment, then noticed Swift grinning at him. "What?"

"Admit it. You're also embarrassed."

"I am not." However the Khajiit eventually caved and dropped his arms to his sides. "Yes. Fine, I am embarrassed as well. But you have to admit, it is easier to fight is it not?"

"Well, yeah, I mean of course it's easier to fight now because nothing can get caught on things."

Link drew _Numinex's Bane_ and spun it above his head in a complete circle before he stabbed the greatsword into the ground and leaned on it.

"So what have you two been up to?"

Swift rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Don't change the subject."

"What?"

Samson gazed at Swift with confusion. "Yes, why are you so eager to not change the subject?"

The Argonian shook her head. "You mean you haven't told him yet? That the two of us are more than just friends now?"

"...You're _what_?"

* * *

A few minutes later, Link found himself walking towards the stables, still not over the fact that Swift and Samson were together. However, his thoughts were interrupted by two voices and he stopped walking as two people were standing off to the side of the road.

The woman shook her head. "By Ysmir, it's true. A jester - funny suit and all. Just north, by the Loreius Farm. Fool had a coffin in a cart, with a broken wheel. Like to see him laugh his way out of that."

The two of them laughed for a bit before the man spoke. "Well, sounds like you've had quite the journey, Uthgerd. But you were gone longer than usual. I got to thinking maybe you weren't coming back..."

The woman named Uthgerd shook her head. "You sound like my ma. Figured I was lying dead in a field somewhere, is that it?"

The Nord shifted a bit and nodded. "Thought did cross my mind, yeah. War brewing, talk of a riot in Helgen, and now jesters? Skyrim's gone mad, girl. You need to be careful out there."

Uthgerd took a few steps back. "Careful, huh? Thanks, Skulvar. I'll remember that. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Both Skulvar and Uthgerd walked off in different directions, Skulvar was heading in Link's direction and he stopped the Nord.

"I heard something about someone needing help?"

Skulvar nodded. "Yeah. Some fool jester apparently had his wagon break down at the Loreius Farm. He's probably still there. Why, you thinking of helping him?"

Link nodded. "Of course. Besides, that woman, Uthgerd, she said there was a coffin, right?"

He received a nod in response.

"Then I suppose I'd better go help him then."

* * *

An hour later, Link rode up to Loreius Farm on Epona, dismounted, and walked up to a strangely dressed man that was currently kicking at a broken down wagon.

The man hurt his foot, grabbed it, and started hopping up and down, but then noticed Link standing there. "Agh! Bother and befuddle! Stuck here! Stuck! My mother, my poor mother. Unmoving. At rest, but too still!"

Link stared at the man for a moment, then, not wanting to seem rude, walked to the side of the wagon and found himself looking at a coffin.

The man spoke. "Poor Cicero is stuck. Can't you see? I was transporting my dear, sweet mother. Well, not her. Her corpse! She's quite dead. I'm taking mother to a new home. A new crypt. But... aggh! Wagon wheel! Damnedest wagon wheel! It broke! Don't you see?"

"Yes..." Link wasn't sure what to make of Circeo; he decided to examine the broken wheel and found that it would need more than just fixing up. It would need to be replaced.

"I suppose I can help you."

The man started to dance around and then jumped up and down. "Oh. Oh yes! Yes, the kindly stranger can certainly help! Go to the farm - the Loreius Farm. Just over there, off the road. Talk to Loreius. He has tools! He can help me! But he won't! He refuses! Convince Loreius to fix my wheel! Do that, and poor Cicero will reward you. With coin! Gleamy, shiny coin!"

After wandering around the farm, Link eventually found a woman that claimed to be Loreius' wife. When asked where he was, the woman pointed towards the farmhouse.

Link ventured inside the farmhouse and found Loreius. When he told the farmer he had spoken with Cicero, the man merely shook his head.

"That Cicero feller? Hmph. Tell me something I don't know. Crazy fool's already asked me about five times. Seems he's not satisfied with my answer. Why can't he just leave us alone?"

"He said he'd pay you for your services."

Loreius shook his head again. "Pay me? You think this is about money? Have you seen the man? He's completely out of his head. A jester? Here, in Skyrim? Ain't been a merryman in these parts for a hundred years. And he's transporting some giant box. Says it's a coffin, and he's going to bury his mother. Mother my eye. He could have anything in there. War contraband. Weapons. Skooma. Ain't no way I'm getting involved in any of that."

"Well, I agreed to help him. And that's what I'm going to do."

Loreius set his jaw in anger. "What? And just who in Mara's name are you, anyway? Hmm? Come here, telling me my business. And for what? To help a... a... a fool!"

"It's the right thing to do."

Loreius seemed to come to reason and he nodded. "Look, I... I... You're right. You're right. Feller might be nutters, might not. But fact is, he needs help. I turn him away, what kind of man am I, hmm? Look, um... Thanks. And I'm sorry for my unneighborly reaction. If you talk to Cicero, you be sure and tell him I'll be down to help soon."

Link nodded. "Thank you. I'll let him know."

Link left the farmhouse and returned to the wagon where Cicero was waiting. As he walked up to the wagon, the jester was muttering something like "Poor mother... Her new home seems so very far.."

"Cicero."

The jester looked up at Link with a hope filled face. "Yes? Have you convinced Loreius to help poor Cicero?"

Link hesitated a moment, then nodded. "I did."

Cicero started dancing again. "Oh stranger! You have made Cicero so happy! So jubilant and ecstatic! But more! Even more! My mother thanks you! Here, here. For your troubles! Shiny, clinky gold! A few coins for a kind deed! And thank you! Thank you again." The man tossed a leather pouch of Septims in Link's direction and he caught it.

As the Hylian walked back to Epona, he counted the Septims in the pouch, which was two hundred and fifty.

The mad man continued to speak even as Link vaulted onto Epona's back and rode past him. "I will wait for Loreius! Oh yes, mother and I will wait right here, right here until he fixes our wheel."

* * *

Link was currently hiding in a patch of tall grass, merely watching the camp below him. From what he could tell, the camp was surrounded by wooden palisades and the interior had various wooden structures. A few bandits were walking around, not even knowing he was there, and the Hylian silently unslung his bow from his shield, notched an arrow, aimed it towards the closest bandit, then fired.

The bandit fell to the ground, clutching his neck, and the remaining bandits looked up, spotted Link, and started to run towards him.

Link stood up from his hiding place and notched another arrow, then aimed it at the bandits, who for some reason stopped running and looked at something behind him, then ran back towards the camp.

Link stood there for a moment, confused, then he heard Epona let out a wild bray and he half turned, only to see a giant walking towards his horse.

He wasted no time running over to her, vaulted on her back and she took off across the camp, scattering the bandits in every direction. The giant keep his eyes on the horse and walked into the bandit camp, waving his club around.

Link reached to his side and drew _Numinex's Bane_ , then nudged Epona to make her start running forwards. Once he was close enough, he swung the greatsword at the giant, slashing his left leg, which caused the giant to roar and swung his club. But the horse and her rider were already gone, having run to the far end of the camp before coming back for another pass. The giant received a slash to the chest this time.

Link and Epona doubled back to the far end of the camp again, before the giant stopped walking and simply met Link's gaze. The two looked at each other for a few seconds before some wordless agreement was met and they started to run at each other, each one's weapon raised high.

Link whilsted, which caused Epona to stop dead in her tracks. The Hylian was thrown from the horse's saddle, towards the giant and Link raised the greatsword above his head and stabbed the creature in the chest.

The giant fell to the ground and as Link stood up and cleaned the sword on the grass, the bandits decided to attack as one and ran towards him.

* * *

Link walked into the mine, then looked around. There was a pressure plate half buried in the dirt that activated some kind of trap and he bypassed it, then continued walking down the hallway.

A lone bandit was mining some sort of ore and hadn't noticed him yet, so Link raised his bow, notched an arrow, then fired, killing the bandit instantly. Link found a key on the body that unlocked a gate further down the hallway and walked through it.

The Hylian found himself in a somewhat large room. Six bandits appeared to be skinning some sort of massive furred animal that had two horns on its face and a large snout of some sort.

Link ignored them and moved his gaze to the Orc with the fancy armor. He then raised his bow and shot an arrow, only to shoot a bandit that happened to walk in front of the Orc at the time.

The bandits noticed him and drew their weapons, then ran towards Link, but he was faster. He drew the greatsword and shoved the bandits against a nearby wooden fence with the flat of the blade, then used Unrelenting Force to make then fall to the ground below them.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the sheer power of the Shout caused the oil lamps to fall from the ceiling and break upon hitting the ground. The oil from the lamps reacted to the oily dirt and caught everything on fire, including the bandits. They started running around and screaming until they finally all fell to the ground, dead.

Link was physically fine; mentally and emotionally, that was an entirely different story. Sure, killing people with arrows, swords, and magic was one thing, but seeing them be burnt alive? That was an entirely different kind of horror.

He heard a roar, then received a hit from a war hammer that sent him flying into a wall. Thanks to the armor, he was only bruised, but it still hurt.

Link picked himself up from the ground just in time to see the Orc from earlier running towards him, on fire, a war hammer in his grip.

The Hylian dodged the next attack, drew Dusk, then stabbed upwards. The dagger punched through the Orc's chin up into his brain, which was literally frozen solid, killing the creature instantly.

* * *

It took Link a while for him to realize that he was still alive. He didn't know why he was lying on the ground; he presumed he must have fainted after the Orc was killed, however long ago that was.

The Hylian slowly rose to a sitting position, found Dusk lying in the dirt beside him, cleaned off the dagger, and put it away, then got up.

The pain of his injuries finally caught up to him, and Link downed two health potions, then used Fast Healing to take care of the rest. He then noticed that his armor was ruined and he took all of it off, then threw it away from him, leaving him only in his shirt and pants. It was just him in the mine now, so he was in no real danger.

There was a table with a spell tome that said "Alteration". Link picked it up, opened it, and the tome turned to dust. He learned that "Transmute Mineral Ore" turned iron to silver, and silver to gold.

There was a chest nearby the table and the Hylian walked over to it and kicked it open. Inside the chest was a sword, it fit the description of the sword Amren had told him about and he picked it up and secured it next to his greatsword.

There was something else in the chest besides the gold coins and when Link realized what it was, his eyes widened.

* * *

Link finally exited the mine. He was wearing new armor, what it was called, he had no idea, but it fit almost _too_ well. The Hylian looked around, found Epona, vaulted on her back, and the two were off for Ustengrav.


	12. Traversing Ustengrav

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 12: Traversing Ustengrav**_  
 **I am so, so sorry for not updating for so long. It took three months of my beta insisting that I finish the chapter. Three days ago, I finally decided to sit down and just write. This is the result. Enjoy chapter 12.**

* * *

Two Necromancers were standing besides a fallen pillar, performing various healing spells and wrapping their wounds with cloth bandages. Eventually, one of them spoke. "Those bandits gave us a lot of trouble. Who'd know they'd have a magic user with them?"

The other shook her head. "We didn't know. Thankfully we managed to kill them before they could kill us."

The man nodded. "Yes. We must be careful, someone else could come along, seeking the treasure that this tomb must hold."

Before either Necromancer could say another word, someone walked into view from around a standing pillar. Whoever they were, they wore armor that was surprisingly well fitting for them; the armor appeared to be studded armor at first glance. The warrior had a bow, two daggers, and a sword and shield on his person, beneath his helmet, dirty blonde hair was just visible, and two icy blue eyes gazed at them from the darkness.

"What? We must have missed one. And just when we thought we killed them all." The male Necromancer took a step forwards, eyeing the newcomer. "Although you don't look like you'd be much trouble to me."

The man nodded to his ally and the two Necromancers began to raise the bodies of the bandits. The warrior took a step back, eyeing the reanimated corpses, then reached to his side, drew his sword, brought his shield to bear, and charged forwards.

The warrior, despite not looking like much, soon proved to know how to fight. He ducked and weaved between the reanimated bandits, blocking when necessary, stabbing when the bandits left themselves open.

"...Who is this guy..." The male Necromancer looked at his ally, who shook her head in bewilderment.

"I have no idea. That blade he's holding is a greatsword, how in the name of Oblivion is he wielding it with one hand?"

The man shook his head and then noticed that the bandits had been killed by the warrior, who was now walking towards them, swinging the greatsword without any effort.

The Necromancers backed away a bit, before they summoned their magic and began to fight the warrior themselves.

The warrior dodged the various spells the two Necromancers shot at him, ran towards the man, then pushed him to the ground. The woman drew a knife and lunged towards the warrior, but he dodged that as well, spun around, and knocked the knife to the ground with a well aimed sword swipe before pushing the woman down to the ground as well.

The Necromancers were shocked - the warrior had somehow bested them, and now they were both on their backs before the man, who was looking down at them, his sword raised a bit.

"Please don't kill us, if you don't kill us, we'll leave right now and never speak a word of this to anyone." The male Necromancer closed his eyes and simply waited for the blade to kill him, but it never did.

The man opened his eyes to find that the warrior was still standing there, looking down at him, then the warrior lowered his sword, then returned it to its scabbard.

The Necromancers noticed that the man wasn't going to attack them, so they stood up, backed away, then walked around the man before they started to run towards the door that led outside.

The man opened the door and then noticed the woman wasn't behind him; she was behind the pillar close to the door, merely watching the man as he looked around the room, then walked over to an opening in the wall and vanished from view.

* * *

Link wondered if he did the right thing, letting those two Necromancers go. After all, they could just do what they were doing somewhere else. Or, maybe they had had a change of heart.

He was still thinking about the fight when he came across five Draugrs and he made short work of them with Dawn and Dusk.

Two minutes after the last Draugr fell, Link found himself in a room full of vases, most of which were intact. He walked up to one and opened it, only to find that there were fifty Septims inside, but they were out of reach. Link gazed at the coins for a moment, before he stepped back, then kicked the vase over, shattering it when it hit the ground. The Hylian froze, wondering if anyone had heard the vase shatter before he decided not to worry about it.

Not one of the vases was left intact, Link figured that if he didn't break them, time and looters would. He supposed he was doing future looters a favor, having already destroyed the vases.

When Link finally left the room with vases after acquiring three potions of minor healing, he noticed a table up against the wall and walked up to it. There wasn't anything of value, simply alchemy ingredients and empty tankards. Past the table, further down the hall, was another room filled with vases.

In addition to the twelve intact urns, this room contained another table, which held when inspected - a chaurus egg (lying in a cast iron pot), a potion of minor healing, a potion of health, a draught of the healer, and a book called Mystery of Talara, V2. After thinking about it for a moment, Link decided to take everything, including the chaurus egg and book, the egg for alchemy, and the book for further reading.

Link left the second room of vases and continued down the hallway, a hand slightly holding his sword's hilt in case anything leapt at him from the shadows. The Hylian reached the end of the hallway and caught a glimpse of a somewhat hidden staircase to his right just before the next room. Link made his way down the staircase slowly, but encountered nothing, not even as he entered the room at the bottom of said staircase.

There was a table at the far end of the room that had twelve Septims piled up, and an old bow of some sort. To the left of the table was a partially hidden pull-chain. When Link activated the pull-chain, it revealed a secret passageway. At the far end of the passageway was a lone chest. Link kicked open the chest and its contents were revealed to be the lantern and conveniently, some lantern oil. Link retraced his steps to the hallway after walking back down the passageway and climbing the stairs, then entered the next room.

The room consisted of a narrow, two level main chamber with an overlooking balcony. Link stepped into the room and a lone draugr burst from a nearby sarcophagus with a muted roar.

As the creature lunged in his direction, Link drew Numinex's Bane with one hand and used Flames with the other, burning the Draugr first, then slashing at the on fire creature with the blade.

The combination of both Flames and the sword attack killed the Draugr, and as it dropped to the ground, another Draugr was alerted by the commotion and as it ran over to Link, yet another Draugr, this one sleeping, was woken up, and it too, headed for the Hylian to attack him. Link once again used the combination of both Flames and his sword to deal with the two Draugr and once the two undead dropped to the ground, he stepped over them and continued on his way.

There was an iron battleaxe by the middle alcove and an iron helmet by the last one, however Link ignored them and walked up the stairs to the balcony, where he found a chest, two potions of minor healing, and one Potion of the Knight.

The Hero of Twilight then took two steps over to the chest and kicked it open, revealing the contents to be various useless armors and twenty Septims. Link took the Septims and left the armor behind.

There was a stone bridge leading to a blackened carved door down a few steps. In the left corner was some sort of crystal and a coin purse that, when inspected, held fifteen Septims.

Link took both the crystal and Septims, approached the black carved door, pushed it open, and stepped through.

* * *

The dual doors slammed shut with an echoing bang, and as Link slowly walked down the few steps that were in front of him, he caught a glimpse of some massive chamber. However, it was too misty to really see much, other than the fact that there were several tall pillars and some flames.

The Hylian eventually met a long Draugr after walking down the natural hallway, and he sidestepped the creature, then drew Dawn and stabbed the Draugr in the chest, killing it instantly. As the Draugr fell to the ground, Link caught something in the corner of his vision and he looked up and to his right a bit.

There was a massive cavern of sorts, one with five tall pillars and broken stone. There was a natural bridge that disappeared from view, a lone pine tree perched on rocks, and when Link looked down, he saw some sort of light source at the bottom of the cavern, to his left. There was a water source to his right that was fed by a waterfall and more trees. On the far end of the cavern, there were flames. Skeletons were patrolling another ruin and one of them had activated some sort of flame trap.

Watching his footing, Link walked over to a wall and sat down on it, merely taking in the sight before him in silent awe.

 _'I wonder how long it took for them to build all of this.'_ , he thought as he absentmindedly swung his legs back and forth a few times. _'I imagine it must have taken a few centuries at least. Maybe I can ask Farengar once I get back to Whiterun. Gods, Whiterun is so far away from here... Hang on, what is that?'_

Something was shining on a nearby ledge. Link couldn't exactly tell what it was from where he was, so, after making sure he wouldn't fall to his death, he hopped off the wall he was sitting on and slowly made his way to the shining object, which revealed itself to be some sort of shield.

There were engraved feathers, eighteen on the outer rim and eighteen on the inner rim. There were several rivets holding the shield together. The feathers went outwards a bit, then curved in a half circle until they came to a point, with room for one more engraved feather in the empty slot between the two shield halves.

In the middle of the shield, there was some sort of raised symbol.

Link picked it up and placed the other shield he had where the golden shield had been, then tested the new shield's weight. _'It's not the Hylian Shield, but it'll do for now. Speaking of which, I wonder where it is.'_

After staying where he was for a few moments, Link made his way back to the main hallway and continued onwards. He passed an iron ore vein and stopped before it for a few seconds, before he figured there was more ore veins in Skyrim than the one he was standing in front of, not to mention that he had no current way of mining the ore, and he left the iron ore behind.

* * *

Link soon came across four pressure plates, the first right one was lit up in flames due to a skeleton resting on said plate, keeping it active. Link tested the other three pressure plates with a nearby rock before determining that the left side was safe to cross.

Once the Hylian passed the flame traps, he discovered that the path before him was blocked by fallen rocks, however, there was an open path to his left and he took it.

The hallway opened up to a stone bridge that spanned across a room with tables with various food items on them. A lone Draugr noticed Link as he stepped onto the bridge and the creature lunged towards him with its arms outstretched. Link simply side stepped and the creature fell to the stone floor below the bridge. The Hylian quickly crossed the bridge, ran down the rough circle stone staircase, then reached to his side, drew Dusk, flipped it around so the blade was facing outwards, then ran up to the Draugr that was just then getting up and stabbed it in the chest, killing it instantly.

This unfortunately altered the other Draugr in the room of Link's presence, and the creature started to run across the other stone bridge, no doubt on its way to attack him. However, the Draugr never even stepped off the bridge, for Link decided to test out his new bow.

A lone arrow sailed through the musty ancient air and struck the Draugr in the neck, killing it instantly and causing it to fall off the bridge to the stone floor.

The Hero of Twilight paused, then stepped over the dead creature at his feet, then noticed something being held in the Draugr's left hand. Closer inspection revealed the object to be a small bowl of bone meal. Something told Link that Bone Meal was used for alchemy in Skyrim, so he took it from the Draugr and decided to walk around for a bit.

From where he was currently standing, he noticed that there were several tables all around him - five up against the left wall, a table directly to his right, two more further into the room on the right side before a platform, and one more on the other side of the platform.

Link approached the tables near the platform first, only to find that the table had various food items on it. He decided to pass up on the food for now as he had no idea how long it had been sitting there and decided not to risk it. There was only a sheaf of wheat on the table on the other side of the platform and he ignored that as well. There was a lit brazier on the platform, and behind that was a stone throne.

 _'I suppose this must have been some sort of meeting hall. But why so far underground?'_

The Hylian walked over to the five tables and found a charred hide of some creature. His instincts once again told him that this hide was used for alchemy, so he took it. There were other items on the one table, including a branch of lavender and a purple mountain flower, among other things. Link took the lavender branch and flower for later potion making, made his way to the other side of the room, pushed open a door, and found himself in a small room that housed a chest and a stone table that had two potions of minor healing on it.

When inspected, the chest held various pieces of useless armor and ten ancient arrows. Link took the arrows, left the armor behind, then climbed a nearby staircase, crossed the second bridge, then entered the next room.

* * *

The room he was in looked rather bare, save for a few sarcophagi. However, there was a small room to his left that was blocked by two barred gates. The solution to opening said gates was apparent - there was one pull-chain beside the gates, and one more beside a lone sarcophagus to the west of the gates.

Link approached the pull-chain to the west first, activated it, then as the second gate retracted, two Draugr awoke - one from the sarcophagus right next to him, the other from another sarcophagus to the north.

The Hylian waited until the two Draugr were walking over the oil slick that was between the two sarcophagi, then used Flames to set the undead creatures on fire. Link then retreated to the gate that was still down, pulled the chain to his right, and stepped into the small room before him as the two Draugr burnt up into piles of ash.

The room contained a chest and a table that had several things on it - a dagger, a potion of healing, an empty soul gem, and a potion of magicka. Link walked up to the chest and opened it, inside was a simple gold ring and a necklace that appeared to be slightly glowing with a blue hue. The Hylian took both the ring and the necklace, closed the chest, then approached the table.

He had only seen two of these before now, one at Orphan Rock, the other in Farengar's study. The mage had called them arcane enchantment tables.

There were two Soul Gems on the enchantment table. One was slightly glowing, while the other was dim, signifying that it was empty. Link picked up the filled Soul Gem and looked at it for a second, then at the gold ring., then at the glowing necklace.

Link placed the necklace he had found on the table, expecting something to happen, but nothing did. He remembered Farengar doing something to some object and looked down at the glowing necklace, then placed a hand on the table and leaned forwards a bit, trying to study the runes carved into the arcane table.

As he did this, Link happened to glance up at the necklace and stared at it as the object started to grow brighter, and brighter, until it was gone. However, where the necklace had been, were now blue tinted runes, floating in the air above the table. The Soul Gem fell to the dirt floor when this happened but Link paid no attention as he heard something in his head.

Two words. _Resist Frost._ The runes then vanished and the Hylian merely stood there before the table, trying to figure out what had just happened.

He decided to believe that what had just happened was a side effect of Skyrim's magic, much like the spell tomes, then decided to see if he could enchant the ring much like using spells after placing said ring on the arcane enchanting table.

Nothing happened. After a moment, Link placed his hands on the table and leaned forwards a bit, then mentally focused on the enchantment he had just learned. Yet, again, nothing happened. The boy took a step back from the table, then picked up the Soul Gem from where it had fallen, thought twice about using it, and hesitantly placed it next to the ring. After that, he had a notion that perhaps it would help the enchantment process if he once again placed his hands on the table and leaned forwards a bit.

The crystal shattered and tendrils of energy surrounded the golden ring before the Resist Frost runes appeared above the ring and then imbued themselves into the metal of the ring. The ring then began to take on the same blue glow the necklace had had. After donning the newly enchanted ring, Link left the small room and walked through the tunnel to the west, up some stairs - stopping to pick up what appeared to be a healing potion - before traveling north.

* * *

The tunnel eventually opened up to the main chamber. There was a stone path heading left that had collapsed and it led down to the main room. Three skeletons wielding bows were walking back and forth across the chamber, while another two were patrolling a hallway along the south and west walls.

Link took his time walking down the stone path and eventually reached the floor of the main chamber. The five skeletons hadn't noticed him yet, and he dispatched all of them with five well aimed arrows. he then walked around the chamber, finding an alcove with a petty soul gem, a garnet, and a flawless garnet that was past a flame spout trap, a chest that held twenty arrows, and another alcove that was well lit at the left of the bottom of the entrance pillar that held a potion of minor healing, a potion of minor magicka, and a chest that held fifteen ancient arrows.

Link approached the throne that was in the northwestern corner and shot the sleeping skeleton that was sitting in it with a well placed arrow before it could wake up, then took the two minor healing potions, one atop each pillar that were standing on either side of the throne.

The Hero of Twilight then headed east, down a spiral dirt path that gradually sloped down to the waterfall he had seen earlier, and then stopped dead in his tracks just before the underground stream. Chanting. For a moment, Link didn't remember why this chanting was so familiar, then he realized what the chanting meant.

On the other side of the stream was a Word Wall.

 _'Why didn't I hear the chanting before I started walking down the path? it's certainly loud...I have a feeling I'm going to be finding these Word Walls in the most unexpected places.'_

The Hylian eventually found a stone path that he used to cross the stream and approached the stone structure that towered over him. As he did so, Link's vision started to blur and he tried to focus on the glowing symbols that were engraved on the wall. Eventually he couldn't even make out the symbols, rather just that there was this blue glow. Then he could see again, the glow was gone, and there was now a single word in his head. _Feim._

Link stood there for a moment, wondering what the word _Feim_ meant, then found himself looking at the waterfall. Due to his experience in traveling through various dungeons and hidden locations, Link knew a thing or two about secrets.

 _'I bet there's something back there. Even if there isn't at least I checked.'_

The Hylian looked back at the now silent Word Wall for a moment before he walked up to the waterfall, hesitated for a second, then walked through it.

There was in fact something behind the waterfall. There was a passageway, and a small cave. There was a chest and a sleeping Draugr; it was no doubt guarding the chest. Link walked down the passageway, drew Dawn, and stabbed the undead creature when he got close enough, killing it instantly. He then turned his attention to the chest and saw a sword leaning against it.

Link picked up the sword and examined it, then swung it once, noting that the strange sword didn't seem to feel too off balance. He decided to take it with him and ask someone about it later. The chest held one garnet, ten Septims, and a minor stamina potion.

The Hylian then spent a few minutes walking back down the passageway, past the waterfall, back up the spiral dirt path, and across a stone bridge to the east.

* * *

Directly in front of him were three stone posts arranged in a triangle with a series of closed gates straight ahead. A lone skeleton was walking along a walkway above the gates and Link promptly shot the undead creature with a single arrow, killing it instantly. The Hylian then walked up the stairs to his right and checked the two burial urns, finding that the first one held twenty Septims, while the other held a silver garnet ring. After taking the ring, the Septims, and a single potion of minor healing that was sitting between the two burial urns, Link walked back down the stairs and over to a dead Draugr, where he found a potion of minor magicka. He then returned to the stone posts and examined them.

One lit up, causing Link to take a step back and he watched as it turned off. After a few seconds, he walked up to the first one again, saw that it, again, lit up, and then walked forwards, causing the other two posts to light up. In response, the gates opened before him and then slammed shut as the three posts grew dim.

 _'So these posts control the gates opening...Interesting. It seems like speed is required...That's it! This must be a test to see if I know Wuld! I think the Greybeards were preparing me for this with that test they gave me.'_

Link walked back to the first post, eyed the gates, then took off at a run, once he passed the three stones, the gates opened, and he Shouted.

 _ **"Wuld!"**_

Time seemed to stop as he used Whirlwind Sprint. Link shot across the stone platform and through the gates just in time, as all three closed behind him as he came to a stop in another room.

* * *

Link found himself in a room filled with rubble and raised plates. There was a raised platform before him with a lit brazier in the middle and he walked up to it, then tested one of the raised plates. Nothing happened and Link stepped onto the raised platform and walked across it to the other side. More raised plates were on the ground before him, before he could move, a frostbitten spider dropped to the ground on one of the raised plates, and then was burnt alive by flames.

Due to some trial and error, Link figured out that all of the raised platforms were flame traps, however, he eventually discovered that he could cross the room by walking on the fallen rubble that was everywhere. Another frostbitten spider dropped down at one point, but it landed on a flame trap, and it too was burnt alive.

The Hero of Twilight finally made it across the room and to another raised platform.

There were two egg sacs in a corner on the raised platform and when Link examined them, they held two Spider Eggs each. He took them, as he figured they would be useful for alchemy. He then walked further into the room, where two Frostbitten Spiders dropped from the ceiling.

Link used Flames on one, then decided to test the new sword he had picked up and stabbed the other spider in the head, killing it instantly. He then attempted to wipe off the blade on the spider's corpse and took a few steps forward, then leapt back as a massive spider lunged forwards, beady eyes glinting in the musty air.

Link raised the new sword he had acquired and ran forwards, then attempted to stab the giant frostbite spider in the abdomen. He was swatted away by two of the spiders legs and he retreated around twenty paces back, then sheathed his sword, unslung his bow from his shield, and started firing arrows. Ten in all. The giant spider hissed at him as each arrow found their mark in its body, then, before Link could react, the thing charged at him and spat poison.

As Link tried to figure out what he was going to do about the dead spider being pinned by the gate, the adrenaline faded and with it, came the realization that he had in fact been poisoned. He tried to distract himself from the steadily growing pain as he knelt down and rummaged through his knapsack.

 _'No antidote...Great. I think healing potions will work.'_

Link downed five minor healing potions and waited a few seconds. The pain decreased somewhat, however it was still there. He then used Fast Healing several times until the pain was at a much more manageable level. Then Link noticed that he felt as if something was missing. On a whim, he tried to cast Fast Healing again, but nothing happened. He tried to cast the other two Healing spells he knew, and then Flames. Again, nothing happened.

Knowing that he couldn't do anything about his current condition, Link realized that he could, at least, retain some of his magical prowess. He downed one minor Magicka potion and waited. He started to feel somewhat normal a few seconds later - his ability to use spells had returned but he didn't want to risk it. Instead, Link got up and pulled the chain again, however, nothing happened, as the gate was stuck in the spider's corpse. He spent a few minutes using his super strength to first lift up the gate, then to pull the spider from said gate and dragged it to the right side of the hallway. As soon as he did this, the gate slammed up into the ceiling and he was able to enter the next room.

Link found himself in a well lit chamber. Down the steps was a walkway that was surrounded by water. At the end of the walkway was a stone coffin. As Link made his way down the steps, four blackened stone statutes rose out of the water and he stopped walking and merely watched the statues until they had stopped moving.

 _'That's possibly the first time I've seen something like that. It'd be more amazing if I wasn't poisoned. I hope I can get back to Whiterun soon...'_

Link walked down the walkway and up to the coffin, expecting the horn to be there. It wasn't. Instead, there was a folded note on top of the coffin. Link took the note, unfolded it, and read it.

"You mean I came all this way for nothing?"


	13. Out of the Horn, into the Dragon's Maw

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 13: Out of the Horn, into the Dragon's Maw  
**_ **Yeah. I know. Two months, but I am still working on this!**

* * *

Link felt extremely sickened by the sight before him, yet, he couldn't stop looking at it - the burnt carcass of a horse, strung up on a wooden pike over a smoldering campfire.

The exploring of Ustengrav hadn't been a complete loss, as he had acquired useful items and more Septims, however, the fact that someone had been there before him and had stolen Windcallers horn was albeit mildly infuriating. Link had, after raiding the vault behind the tomb, eventually left Ustengrav via a secret passage and walking back through the Nordic Ruins. It had been early evening when he pulled open one of the twin wooden doors and stepped out into the stone laden pit. From there, he had climbed the stairs and greeted Epona as she trotted up to him. Foolish as it was, Link had decided to try to race the sun in order to get back to Whiterun before nightfall, but that was not to be the case. Five hours later, Ustengrav was well behind them and the nearest resting place was a giant camp, known as Bleakwind Basin.

And that was how he ended up in the current situation.

As Link got up from the flat rock he had been sitting on for the past few minutes and slowly approached the charred horse carcass, he realized the horrifying implications of the giant trying to steal Epona away at the bandit camp, and he stopped walking for a moment. ' _It's certainly a good thing that I killed it.'_ Since he was close enough, Link decided to inspect the dead horse to determine how it died, and, after walking around it a few times, determined that it had died naturally; whether it was from sickness or from old age, he couldn't tell, but there were no broken bones or signs that the horse had suffered, which was good.

His stomach then reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything in at least five hours and he felt faint for just a moment but the feeling passed. ' _Well, I know it's a horse and all but it died naturally, it's already cooked thoroughly…'_ Link reached to his side and drew Dawn, looked at the fiery dagger for a second, flipped it around so the blade was facing outwards, and then remembered Epona was standing somewhere behind him. The Hylian half turned to face his horse, waiting to see how she'd react, but the mare merely nodded her head and pawed the grass with a lone hoof. In other words, she didn't mind at all. "I mean, you eat meat, too. Remember when I gave you some cooked Cucco that one time?"

Epona nodded again and trotted up to Link, then gently nudged him with her head.

"Alright, alright, I get it."

Link stepped up to the charred horse, raised the dagger, and attempted to cut into the side of the dead horse. However, it didn't work very well. The Hero of Twilight stepped back a few paces and then decided to cut the carcass before him from the pikes. After he did that, he dragged the dead horse off of the campfire by a leg and then tried to cut into its' side again. This time he was a bit more successful, though not by much, and Link lowered the dagger. _'Well, I have two options. Either I use the greatsword, or I turn wolf. Turning wolf seems the better option to me.'_ And that's exactly what he did.

Moments later, the black fog dissipated and the wolf stepped up to the dead horse, then bit into its' side, eventually tearing off some meat. He dropped it to the grass before him, then went off in search of other food. Link eventually found what appeared to be some sort of cheese in a leather barrel with three sticks, so, after returning to normal, he took what he could carry and returned to where he had dropped the meat. The Hylian sampled the cheese first, finding it to be somewhat musty but yet palatable. _'Not bad. I think it'd go well with Honey Nut Bread and Spiced Cider.'_ He then, after some hesitation, sampled the horse meat. ' _Interesting. Certainly has a unique taste.'_ Link then glanced up at Whiterun, which was just visible in the distance, and then looked back at the setting sun to the west, scratching his cheek. He then looked at Epona, who was now laying beside him. "How about we rest here for a bit?"

* * *

A lone guard was patrolling his post outside the gates when he saw a horse and her rider approaching. He stopped them by raising a hand and the rider stopped, having been revealed to be a man no older than seventeen at best. "Isn't it a bit early for one such as yourself to be out at this hour? State your name and reason for being here."

The horse shifted beneath the young man as he spoke. "I live here. In Breezehome, and my name is Link Faremanne."

"You're the new Thane, aren't you? My apologies, it's just that I didn't expect you to be so...Young. How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Seventeen."

The guard nodded. "Only seventeen, eh? You've got some growing up to do, I reckon." He stepped forwards, up to Link's mare. "I've never seen a horse like this before. Do you know her breed?"

"Hylian Thoroughbred."

"Never heard of it." The guard stepped back and waved a hand. "Reckon you've got things to do, you being the Thane and all. Carry on."

Link nodded and nudged his mare in the side, to which the horse started walking, then trotting, and then ended up galloping down the stone road towards Whiterun.

* * *

Link entered Whiterun a few minutes later and said hello to various passerby as he walked towards Breezehome. He thought about talking to Adrianne and Ulfberth but decided not to; Link instead found the spare key hidden under a nearby stone and opened the door to Breezehome, then stepped inside and closed the door. He stood in the entranceway for a moment, taking in the sights before him, before he shrugged off his knapsack and placed it on a nearby wooden table, then started to rummage through it and take out what he didn't need.

"Link?"

He froze, holding a potion of health before setting it down on the table. Lydia was standing at the foot of the stairs, watching him.

"It seems you've been on quite an adventure, haven't you?"

Link placed more potions on the table - a potion of the knight, one stamina potion, one weak healing potion, and one draught of the healer. He then placed the Chaurus Egg, two spider eggs bone meal, lavender branch, purple mountain flower, flawless garnet and ruby and the non flawless garnet on the table as well. He also added the book he had found, which was a copy of Mystery of Talara V2. "I wouldn't call it that, more like exploring places."

Lydia smiled, walked over to Link, then looked over the items on the table. "More alchemy ingredients... Do you plan to make more potions any time soon?"

Link shook his head. "Not right now. I need to return Nettlebane to the priests at the temple and give Amren his sword back."

His bodyguard picked up the alchemy ingredients and stepped back from the table. "You're leaving now?"

"I guess. Don't worry I'll come back to see you before I head for Riverwood."

"Riverwood? Why are you going there?"

Link hesitated. _'Nay it, should I show her the letter? ...No, I won't.'_ "I need to pick up something there."

If Lydia caught the lie, she didn't say anything. "Samson and Swift have been asking where you went, by the way."

The Hylian was already standing on the eighth step up but he half turned and gave Lydia a nod. "Okay. I'll go talk to them."

He then took the last six steps two at a time, took a right, walked down the short hallway and entered his room. After thinking about it, Link left half of his Septims - seven hundred and twenty five - in a nearby chest, then stood there for a moment. _'I really don't want to admit it but Breezehome is a lot nicer than my tree house back in Ordon.'_ Link then left his room, walked back the way he came, down the fourteen steps, said goodbye to Lydia, then left Breezehome.

* * *

"Armen!"

The Redguard turned around to see Link walking towards him, and he hailed the Hylian. "Hello, Link, what can I do for you?" Link held up the sword he had been carrying and Armen's eyes widened. "You found it?! Thank you!"

Armen took the sword from Link and drew it, then smiled at him.

"So, you took down all those bandits by yourself?" As Link nodded, Armen grinned openly. "I want to repay you somehow. Ah, I know, I'll teach you a sword and shield technique my father was known for, as well as giving you those twenty five Septims I promised."

A few minutes later, Link had learnt the technique, received the twenty five Septims, and said goodbye to Armen; he was now walking towards the Temple of Kynareth when he heard a familiar voice.

"Link! There you are!"

Samson waved him over to his and Swift's stall and when Link approached, Swift hugged him and he returned it, then stepped back. The Khajiit grinned. "Heard you went tomb raiding. How'd it go."

"Somewhat successful. I mean I found a garnet and a flawless ruby I can sell for Septims."

"Wait." Swift interrupted Link and he patiently waited for her to speak. "You found flawless gemstones?!"

"Yeah. I've got a feeling I'll find more, too."

Samson's grin grew wider. "If and when you find more, save some for us, will you?"

Link waved a hand. "Yeah. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

Swift gave Samson a look and he grew quiet, then spoke again. "So... uh, what do you plan on doing now?"

"I have to go to the Temple of Kynareth to give them this" he showed the Argonian and Khajiit Nettlebane and their eyes widened. "I found it in a Hagraven nest at Orphan Rock."

"What will it be used for?"

Link handed Samson the dagger and he inspected it, with Swift looking over his shoulder, then the cat handed the object back to Link. "Apparently it's to be used in restoring the Gildergreen, though I don't know the exact details."

Swift nodded and pulled on Samson's arm to lead him back behind their stall. "We won't keep you waiting then. You can come back later if you need help with something, we'll be happy to help."

"I will." Link started to walk away, then stopped, walked back, stepped behind the stall to hug Swift and shake Samson's hand (the two hugged afterwards), and then left the stall for the Temple.

* * *

Link felt oddly at home as he stepped inside the Temple of Kynareth. From where he was standing, he saw several wooden benches in the middle of the room, three healing altars, a mosaic tiled pattern in the floor, and two people being treated by healers. One of them was wearing armor and when Link approached, the man simply looked up at him with a glazed over and pained look before looking up at the ceiling.

"What happened to him?"

The healer tending to the man before Link lifted their head a bit and spoke. "He was stabbed while fighting off bandits. His wounds will heal, although the healing process will take time." The priest stood upright and looked down at Link. "And you are? Wait, don't tell me. Yes, you're Link, aren't you? What are you doing here? You don't require healing, do you? I'm Jenssen, by the way, I'm the Acolyte here."

"Fortunately, no, I'm just here to talk to Danica."

Jenssen waved a hand. "She's talking to someone right now but you're welcome to walk up to her if you want. Maybe she'll notice you."

"Thanks."

"No problem, if you have any other questions, just ask."

Link left the man to heal the guard and walked across the room over to Danica, who, just as Jenssen said, was talking to someone.

"What is it... what has happened to the Gildergreen? I have traveled long here to worship beneath its branches." The man speaking stepped close to Danica, who shook her head.

"It was taken by a lightning strike. Wish I had time to deal with it, but it's hard enough with all these wounded from the war." She looked past the man and across the room before moving her gaze back to the man before her.

"Please, don't just let it stay like this. It's disgraceful."

Danica sighed and threw her hands up for a moment before dropping them to her sides. "I really don't have time to deal with you right now. Please just let me get back to my work."

"But this is supposed to be your work." However, the priestess had turned away from the man, and as he walked away, Danica noticed Link and motioned for him to come closer.

"So, have you gotten Nettlebane back from those filthy Hagravens yet?"

He nodded. "I've found Nettlebane for you."

Danica adjusted her robes a bit and then smiled. "Oh, I... well, I honestly didn't expect you to come back. Of course, I'm glad you did!" Upon seeing the dagger in person, the smile faded a bit. "Now... I don't really want to touch that thing, though. Do you think you can handle the next steps?"

"What needs to be done?"

Danica nodded. "Eldergleam's sanctuary grove is to the east of here. You can use Nettlebane to retrieve some of its sap."

As Danica left Link to deal with the wounded soldiers, the man she had spoken to earlier got up from the chair he had been sitting in and walked up to Link. "Was I correct in hearing that you were traveling to the grove of the Eldergleam?"

"Can I help you?"

"I am a traveler. A pilgrim. I follow the voice of Kynareth wherever it can be heard. I've dreamed of seeing Eldergleam for years. Might I travel alongside you? I promise not to get in the way."

Link debated not taking someone with him but then decided that if something were to happen along the way, it would be better than dealing with whatever happened by himself. "You're welcome to join me."

The pilgrim smiled warmly. "I thank you for your kindness."

Link left the temple with the pilgrim following him.

"I suppose you don't know my name, it is Maurice Jondrelle. If I am to travel with you, I would like to know your name."

Link stopped walking and looked up at the dead tree towering overhead before he glanced towards Maurice. "Link Farmanne, and just to let you know, I have something that needs to be seen to in Riverwood before we can go to the sanctuary. You don't mind if we go there first, do you?"

Maurice shook his head. "Not at all. Should we leave at once, then?"

Link nodded and he led the pilgrim through Whiterun, until he stopped at Samson and Swift's stall in the market.

The Khajiit saw him first and waved. "Hello, Link. Where are you going?"

"First to Riverwood to deal with something, then I'm taking Maurice" - here the pilgrim bowed in greeting - "with me to the Eldergleam Sanctuary."

Swift spoke up, her blue eyes flickering between the clothing she was mending and Link. "You're going there? That's great. Sam and I haven't been but I've heard the entire place is amazing."

* * *

Link and Maurice rode into Riverwood on Epona. They hadn't been attacked by anything while traveling, and so they were able to get to Riverwood faster than Link anticipated. After finding some place to house Epona, Link looked around Riverwood, noting that nothing had changed since he had left the village seven days ago, then stepped into the Sleeping Giant Inn and took out the letter he had found in Windcaller's tomb.

 _Dragonborn -_

 _I need to speak to you. Urgently._

 _Rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood, and I'll meet you._

 _\- A friend_

 _'Well, I'm here... Guess I rent the room now.'_ Link thought as he scratched his chin, folded the letter and returned it to his knapsack, then looked around.

People of all sorts of races and backgrounds were seated at wooden tables, drinking and talking to each other. Towards the back of the room was a counter, in the middle of the room was a fire pit, and three doorways leading to unknown rooms.

Maurice decided to get a drink and sit at a nearby table as Link walked across the room, past the fire pit, and up to the counter, where a woman was counting Septims. "Yes? How can I help you?"

"I'd like to rent the attic room."

The woman looked confused. " Attic room, eh? Well...we don't have an attic room, but you can have the one on the left. Ten Septims. Make yourself at home."

The woman led Link to the left room and left him to his own devices.

Strangely enough, there was no one in the room and Link wondered if the letter had been addressed to someone else. He then heard footfalls behind him and he turned, only to see the barkeeper standing in the doorway.

"So you're the Dragonborn I've been hearing so much about. I think you're looking for this." The woman was holding an aged horn and she held out to Link, who took it. The woman then stepped back out of the room. "We need to talk. Follow me."

She led Link from the rented room, across the tavern, and into another room, and then instructed him to close the door.

As he did so, the woman opened the room's wardrobe and used a false panel to reveal a hidden passage behind the wardrobe, with steps leading down into some sort of basement.

Before she descended into the basement, the woman looked back at Link. "I never got your name."

"Link Farmanne. Yours?"

"Delphine, now, follow me, there's much to discuss."

After walking down the stairs, Link found himself in a well lit room with a central table and walls lined with bookshelves and chests.

Laying on the central table was a map of some sort and a copy of the Book of the Dragonborn. Link stepped up to the table to get a closer look at the map but Delphine stepped in front of him.

"Now we can talk. The Greybeards seem to think you're the Dragonborn. I hope they're right."

Link took a step backwards to put some space between both of them. "The Greybeards are right. I am Dragonborn."

Delphine gave Link a cynical look. "I hope so. But you'll forgive me if I don't assume that something is true just because the Greybeards say so. I just handed you the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. Does that make me Dragonborn, too?"

The Hylian narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms in a defensive position. "So what's the part you're not telling me?"

"Dragons aren't just coming back, they're coming back to life. They weren't gone somewhere all these years. They were dead, killed off centuries ago by my predecessors. Now something's happening to bring them back to life. And I need you to help me stop it."

"What makes you think dragons are coming back to life?" Link asked, wondering.

Delphine nodded. "I know they are. I've visited their ancestral burial mounds and found them empty. And I've figured out where the next one will come back to life. We're going to go there, and you're going to kill that dragon. If we succeed, I'll tell you anything you want to know."

At this, Link let his arms fall to his sides and he attempted to look at the map, yet Delphine didn't move from where she was standing. "How did you figure all this out?"

"You should know. You got the map for me. The dragonstone you got for Farengar, remember?"

This got Link's attention. "The dragonstone was some kind of map?"

"Yes. A map of ancient dragon burial sites." Delphine stepped aside and let Link look at the map on the table. "I've looked at which ones are now empty. The pattern is pretty clear. It seems to be spreading from the southeast, starting in the Jeralls near Riften." The woman pointed at Kynesgrove's location on the map. "The one near Kynesgrove is next if the pattern holds."

"So Kynesgrove is we're headed?"

Delphine looked down at the map and nodded again. "Yes. If we can get there before it happens, maybe we'll learn how to stop it."

Delphine sighed in annoyance. "I can't wait around for you to make up your mind. I'll meet you at Kynesgrove. Don't waste time getting there."

The two left the room and returned to the main hall. Maurice looked up as Link walked up to him. "Well?"

"We're leaving."

The pilgrim nodded and he followed Link outside as Delphine walked down the steps in front of them, then turned around.

"I suggest we split up. I'll go to Kynesgrove now, and you do whatever you need to do before you join me there."

The woman whistled for a horse, leapt into its saddle, and took off before Link could say anything. He felt Maurice staring at his back and he half turned to face him.

"Kynesgrove? What is at Kynesgrove?"

"Nothing you need to worry about. Let's get to the sanctuary."

* * *

The hot springs were certainly interesting. Epona took her time crossing them, going out of her way to avoid stepping in the hot pools of water on some occasions. Link was currently reading his own copy of the Book of the Dragonborn, having been reminded he had picked it up during his escape from Helgen twelve days ago. _'Have I really been in Skyrim twelve days?'_ He looked down at the last page and reread the passage called "The Prophecy of the Dragonborn". _'So this prophecy involves me? I'd like to think so. I'll talk to either Delphine or Arngeir when I next see them.'_ Link reread the passage again, then closed the book and put it away in his knapsack before he looked up at the sight before him. _'Let's see... After I leave the Eldergleam Sanctuary, I suppose I'll take the horn back and then get to Kynesgrove.'_

"Kynesgrove... Why does it sound so familiar." Link must have said it a bit louder than anticipated because Maurice answered him.

"Kyne is Kynareth in the Nordic pantheon. Kynareth is from the Imperial Nine Divines, and Kyne is her equivalent. The other Divines have different names here as well."

A distant roar got their attention and both of them looked up.

"What... What do you suppose that was?" Maurice asked, looking afraid.

Link narrowed his eyes and set his jaw as he saw something moving in the clouds. "I have a pretty good idea." He stopped Epona and then leapt down, Maurice panicking.

"What are you doing? Why are we stopping?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out. Stay here." With that, he started to walk away and stopped around fifty paces from the horse and pilgrim, then reached to his side and drew Numinex's Bane.

The shape in the clouds soon revealed itself to be a dragon and the beast soon circled and then flew down to land before Link, its head held high and its eyes locked onto him.

"Dovahkiin. It would be an honor to Grah (battle) you. Let me taste your Thu'um, Kiir!"

Link grinned, flipped his sword around, and merely said "Sure", before he Shouted. **_"Fus, Ro!"_**

A shockwave hit the dragon and sent it stumbling back, before it recovered, growled, and used a shout Link hadn't heard before.

 _ **"Ven... Gaar Nos!"**_ A powerful wind slammed into Link and threw him back a few feet, leaving several gashes on his face when it dissipated. "You do not know a full Shout yet, do you?" The dragon eyed him for a moment, then rushed forwards, maw open wide.

Link waited until the last second, then kicked off the ground, sword raised, and attempted to stab the dragon in the head.

The sword bounced off, and the dragon shook its head and threw Link to the ground before it, then pinned him with its wing-claw. "Your Zun will not harm me." The dragon then reared its head back and brought it down, only to ram it into Link's shield. "Ruth!" it cursed, shaking its head before it growled and breathed fire.

Before the fire reached him, Link Shouted again. _**"Wuld!"**_

A second later he was a few feet from the blood dragon and standing, eyeing the beast with determined eyes. The dragon turned to face him and roared, then charged at him.

Link went to stab the dragon but then the beast shouted. _**"Feim!"**_

To his surprise his attack went right through the dragon it as became see-through. Link nearly fell but caught himself just in time for the dragon to swat him away with a wing as it became solid again, causing him to actually fall this time. The dragon then breathed fire.

Link threw himself to the side to dodge the dragon and when he got back up he saw Maurice punching the dragon's side. Before he could say anything the dragon hit the pilgrim with its wing and the man dropped, then got up with an excited look on his face. "Haha! I love a challenge!" he yelled before ducking to avoid another wing swipe.

Link merely stared at him before shaking his head slightly and then noticed that the dragon had left itself open. The Hylian took the distraction as a sign to attack the dragon and so he ran up to it and stabbed it in the mouth with his sword, the blade piercing the roof of the dragon's maw, causing the beast to shake its head and throw Link backwards.

He was now without a sword but then he got an idea. Link unhooked the Fire Rod from his shield, primed it, then aimed the weapon at the dragon's open mouth. He then fired the weapon and a column of fire shot from the rod and into the dragon's mouth, setting it on fire, then the beast started to burn from the inside out.

As the dragon's flesh burned away, white tendrils of energy began to flow from its skeleton towards Link and surrounded him, then vanished. Link was struck by... something, _'Fade...'_ , he not only knew what 'Feim' meant, he _knew_ what Feim meant, _'Can I...?'_

 ** _"Feim!"_** He didn't feel at all different, but Maurice was looking at him with wide eyes.

"You... You're Dragonborn?! Why, you must be, you killed that dragon and must have absorbed its soul... And now look at you, it's as if you're a spirit!"

"What do you mean?" Link asked in confusion.

Maurice pointed at him. "Your body is almost see through. Look."

The Hero of Twilight raised his left hand a bit and saw that it did appear to be almost see through. He realized what this meant a second later. _'So I can't be harmed when I'm like this? I get the feeling that, perhaps, if someone tried to cast a flame spell, I wouldn't be hurt, but I could run towards them and hurt them instead.'_

He returned to normal and after deciding to ask the Greybeards about this later, Link walked up the dragon's corpse and retrieved his sword from its mouth, then turned to look at Maurice. "I can heal you if you want."

The pilgrim smiled slightly. "Oh, I suppose you think you're better than me just because you can cast a few spells?"

"No." Link walked over to Maurice and used Healing Hands on him, then helped the pilgrim up onto Epona's back, leapt into her saddle and they continued towards the sanctuary.

While he kept his eyes to their destination, Link smiled, "You know, Maurice, I didn't know you had it in you to fight like that." Link heard the pilgrim chuckle behind him as Epona kept walking.

"You'd be surprised. Even though I carry no weapons, I think of myself as someone skilled in hand to hand combat."

They both shared a laugh and kept moving.

* * *

Link and Maurice stepped into the cave, having left Epona to wait outside. There wasn't much to see, just rock walls and a somewhat steep gravel incline before them.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Maurice?" Link questioned as he gave the pilgrim a confused look. The man nodded.

"Yes, I am certain of it, just walk down this path and you'll be in the cavern shortly."

Link took his time walking down the gravel incline, but nothing prepared him for the awesome sight of the cavern when it opened up. Various plants and flowers that he had never seen before were everywhere, waterfalls cascaded down rock walls in the distance and there was a massive tree that towered over him at the far end of the cavern.

"Remarkable, isn't it?"

He turned to face Maurice and could only nod, unable to find the words to describe the sights around him. The Pilgrim smiled.

"I'm also awestruck."

Link turned back to face the cavern and took a few steps forward, then finally spoke. "I think I could stay here all day."

Maurice walked past him and kept walking. "You may come here as often as you like. I see a wooden bridge over here, I believe we cross it."

The two found said wooden bridge and began to cross it when they were hailed by a man who was sitting on a ledge. "Hello there, friend. My name is Sond. Have you come to enjoy the sights and sounds of this beautiful sanctuary, as I have? Truly remarkable, isn't it? If you have any questions, speak to Asta, she's just sitting over there, by the pool up ahead." The man waved a hand to his left, past the bridge, and then stood up from the ledge and walked away.

Link crossed the bridge while Maurice decided to go on ahead and eventually found a woman sitting by a pool fed by a waterfall. The woman looked up as he approached and smiled. "Hello, my name is Asta. Amazing that such beauty could exist in a place as desolate as the volcanic tundra. Praise Kynareth for allowing such beauty in the world."

Link looked around him. "What is this place?"

"You are in Eldergleam Sanctuary - just a small glimpse of what beauty Kynareth has to offer. Wonderful place, isn't it?

Link sat down next to the woman and looked up at the tree overhead. "Yes. And that tree, is that the Eldergleam?"

Asta nodded. "Yes, my friend. Though no one has been able to get close to her for as long as I can remember."

"Why not?"

The woman waved a hand upwards. "As you can see, Eldergleam's roots are large and stretch far, blocking any path to her trunk. Though, believe it or not, there are rumors of a weapon that even Eldergleam herself would lift her roots for, more out of fear than respect."

 _'One weapon, huh?'_ "You mean..." Link reached to his side and drew Nettlebane. "This?"

Asta's eyes widened. "The rumors were true... I beg of you, don't harm the tree! Nothing good can come of it."

"I'm not going to harm the tree, I promise. Thank you for talking to me." Link got up and left Asta, returning to the dirt path, where he found Maurice standing were the roots blocked the way.

As soon as Maurice saw Link approach, he started to lift his hands a bit. "Where did you find that?"

"Orphan's Rock. Stand back, I don't know what Eldergleam is going to do." Link approached the first branch tentatively, raised Nettlebane a bit, and reached out to rest the dagger on the first root. A second later, the root recoiled from fear and the way was opened slightly. _'Okay. That works.'_

The rest of the roots followed suit and as soon as the last one recoiled back, Link heard Maurice angrily address him. "I had no idea you were a man of violence, Link! What exactly are your intentions in this blessed place?"

The Hylian half turned and looked down at Maurice, being that both of them were standing on an incline. "Well, Danica told me to get sap..."

Link took a step back up the incline as Maurice began yelling at him. "You would violate this marvel of Kynareth's glory to fix that half-breed stump in Whiterun? That's abominable. Barbaric. I'll have no part in this. Why didn't you tell me what you intended?"

The Hylian mulled over what the pilgrim had said. _'Well, he is right.'_ He glanced up at the tree overhead before looking back down at the man a few feet away. _'I can't damage the tree. Even I feel drawn to it somehow.'_ Then he spoke. "Do you have a better idea?"

Maurice gazed up at him, then nodded. "Well ... yes. There is something. It won't repair the tree back at the temple, but we could bring them a new one."

"What did you have in mind?"

Maurice walked up the incline past Link and waved a hand. "Follow me, I think I can convince the tree to help us."

Link followed the pilgrim up the incline and up to the tree. Maurice knelt before Eldergleam and silently prayed to the tree for a few minutes. Then a tiny leaf appeared in the soil before the tree, and it, over the course of a minute, grew to the size of a sapling.

Maurice looked up at Eldergleam, nodded, and stood. "The Eldergleam has blessed us with a sapling. You should take it to Whiterun. Danica will want to see that the true blessings in nature lie in renewal, not a slavish maintenance."

Link looked down at the sapling, wondering how to safely transport it back to Whiterun before he got an idea, knelt down, placed the sapling on the ground before him, placed his knapsack next to the sapling, rummaged around until he found an empty potion flask, placed the sapling inside the flask, sealed it, placed the flask inside his knapsack, tossed it over his shoulder and stood up.

"What will you do now?"

Maurice looked up at the tree overhead. "I believe I'll stay here and bask in Eldergleam's warmth a bit longer." He took a few steps towards the tree, then half turned to look back at Link. "Good luck on your travels. May Kynareth's wind carry only the sweetest scents."

Link nodded, turned to walk back down the incline, then turned around and walked up to Maurice. "Thank you."

The pilgrim turned to face him and smiled. "Not at all, Link. I apologize for the slight misunderstanding earlier."

The two shook hands and went their separate ways. Maurice remained nearby the tree while Link began to walk down the incline back towards the entrance to the sanctuary. A reflecting golden light got his attention and he turned around, only to see a golden patterned-dyed blue sword scabbard resting against Eldergleam's trunk.

 _'No. No, it_ can't _be.'_

He approached the sword scabbard and knelt before it, seeing himself in its reflection. The royal crest of Hyrule was emblazoned at the top in the triangular notch, albeit scratched and dented.

 _'...I found it.'_

Link reached out and picked up the scabbard, then stood, running his hands over it while checking for more scratches and dents.

 _'If the scabbard is here, then where is the Master Sword? I hope nothing happened to it.'_

Link looked down at the scabbard before hooking it to his belt beside Numinex's Bane and then continued walking.

* * *

As Link rode into Ivarstead on Epona an hour later, he noticed a crowd gathered around three people wearing strange masks and robes. As he approached, one of them spotted him and motined for the crowd to step back.

"You there! You're the one they call Dragonborn?"

Epona tossed her head and pranced backwards five steps before Link quieted her and leapt down from his horse's saddle, handing the reins to whoever was closest nearby.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about."

The woman (Link could tell by the voice) raised her arms while the other two drew their weapons. "Your lies fall on deaf ears, Deceiver! We know you are the False Dragonborn! You shall not stand in the way of the true Dragonborn's return. She comes soon, and we shall offer her your heart! When Lady Miraak appears all shall bear witness. None shall stand to oppose her!"

Link merely drew his twin daggers in response and the three masked figures rushed him.

Thankfully, a few guards ran up to him and led one away, leaving him with two to deal with. Link blocked a sword with his shield, then received a deep cut to his lower right arm. He faltered, wavering a bit, before Shouting towards the one who had injured him. _**"Fus, Ro!"**_

The woman was sent backwards through the air, slamming against a house where she fell to the ground and didn't get up.

Meanwhile, the guards had managed to kill the one they were fighting, but some were shocked by the surviving attackers lighting and were put out of commision. The robed figure tried to stab Link but he was faster, and attempted to stab the person in the upper chest, however, they dodged.

Then a sword appeared, the tip of the blade stopping a few inches away from Link. The body went limp and the sword vanished, causing the corpse fall to the ground. A guard was standing there, holding the sword that had killed the attacker and he nodded to Link. "Good work. Although maybe you should get that arm looked at."

Link nodded and used Fast Healing on himself before another guard walked up to him, holding a note. "One of those freaks was carrying this. Does anything said in it look familiar?"

Link took the note from the guard and looked it over.

 _Board the vessel Northern Maiden docked at Raven Rock. Take it to Windhelm, then begin your search. Kill the False Dragonborn known as Link Farmanne before he reaches Solstheim._

 _Return with word of your success, and Miraak shall be most pleased._

Link looked up from the note and found the guard waiting for an answer.

"No."

The guard nodded and waved a hand. "Very well, come on you lot, help me clean this up."

As the other guards started to clean up the area, Link said goodbye to Epona, once again paid the necessary Septims to board her for at least an hour, then started to walk towards the seven thousand steps, pausing before the first one.

 _'Miraak... Should I ask Arngeir who that is? Maybe I shouldn't. I'll decide when I get up there.'  
_

* * *

Arngeir was the first to greet Link as he stepped into High Hrothgar. "Ah! You've retrieved the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. Well done, Link. You have now passed all the trials. Come with me. It is time for us to recognize you formally as Dragonborn."

"What do you mean, formally recognize me?" asked Link in confusion as the Greybeard smiled.

"You will know shortly, follow me."

The Greybeard led Link to the center of the room, where Wulfgar, Borri and Einarth were waiting. Upon reaching them, Arngeir turned to face Link.

"You are ready to learn the final word of Unrelenting Force, "Dah," which means "Push."" He smiled. "I can see the excitement in your eyes, you feel it, don't you?"

"Feel what?"

The Greybeard waved a hand for Wulfgar to step forth. "You will know it."

Wulfgar said _" **Dah"**_ and the word inscribed itself on the floor before Link. Arneir then spoke.

"With all three words together, this Shout is much more powerful. Use it wisely. Master Wulfgar will now gift you with his knowledge of "Dah.""

The symbol on the floor glowed and disappeared, the word 'Dah' now in Link's head.

 _'Just like last time.'_

Wulfgar smiled and bowed to him, the Greybeard's own understanding of the word entering Link's mind.

He then 'understood' Dah.

 _'So 'Fus' means 'Force', Ro means 'Balance', and Dah means 'Push'. Fus... Ro... Dah... I did it. I know a full Shout, I feel amazing... Am I supposed to feel like this?'_ Link eyed Arngeir. "Am... Am I supposed to feel like this?"

"I assume you mean wanting to test the full might of Unrelenting Force? Then yes, it will be normal to test fully learned Shouts after you learn the last word. After all, to truly know a Shout, you must use it fully for the first time. It will take you some time to fully master Unrelenting Force, but you will. Go ahead Link, Shout at me, I will not be harmed, I assure you."

And so, believing the Greybeard, Link faced him and Shouted.

 _'Wait for it... Now.'_

 _ **"Fus... Ro Dah!"**_ A shockwave of air hit Arngeir and he fell, only to wave a hand as Link approached.

"I am fine." The Greybeard rose to his feet and smiled warmly. "Well done Link. Remember, the more you practice a Shout, the sooner you will become a master at it. You have completed your training, Dragonborn. We would Speak to you. Stand between us, and prepare yourself. Few can withstand the unbridled Voice of the Greybeards. But you are ready."

Link gazed at Arngeir in confusion before walking to the center of the room and waited.

The Greybeard smiled as he and the three others gathered around Link in a circle, then started Shouting at him.

 _ **"Lingrah krosis saraan Strundu'ul, voth nid balaan klov praan nau. Naal Thu'umu, mu ofan nii nu, Dovahkiin, naal suleyk do Kaan, naal suleyk do Shor, ahrk naal suleyk do Atmorasewuth. Meyz nu Ysmir, Dovahsebrom. Dahmaan daar rok."**_

Link was unprepared by the sheer force of the four Greybeards Shouting at him, and he lost his balance and fell to his knees, where he remained until he heard Arngeir say his name, lifting his head to look up at the Greybeard.

The man smiled and helped the Hylian up, then made sure he could stand on his own before stepped back and bowing. "Dovahkiin. You have tasted the Voice of the Greybeards, and passed through unscathed. High Hrothgar is open to you."

The other three Greybeards bowed to him before leaving the main room, however, Arngeir stayed where he was, looking at him expectantly.

"What was that ceremony all about? Were you Shouting at me?"

The Greybeard nodded. "We spoke the traditional words of greeting to a Dragonborn who has accepted our guidance. The same words were used to greet the young Talos, when he came to High Hrothgar, before he became the Emperor Tiber Septim."

"What did you actually say?"

"Ah. I sometimes you forget you are not versed in the dragon tongue as we are. This is a rough translation: "Long has the Stormcrown languished, with no worthy brow to sit upon. By our breath we bestow it now to you in the name of Kyne, in the name of Shor, and in the name of Atmora of Old. You are Ysmir now, the Dragon of the North, hearken to it."

* * *

Far away from High Hrothgar, Alduin perched on a broken Word Wall, his horned head tilted back and eyes closed as he soaked in the warm sun rays. Then he heard the Greybeards. His eyes slid open and his head turned, looking in the direction of the Throat of the World. His eyes narrowed and he hissed, "Dovahkiin", before roaring, and the World-Eater took to the skies and started to fly in the direction of Kynesgrove.  
It's time to wake an old subordinate up.


	14. Kynesgrove and Dragons

_**The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 14: Kynesgrove and Dragons  
**_ **Kynesgrove, everyone. You may know what happens in the game, but this will be somewhat different…**  
 **I used two Hidden Techniques, see if you can tell what they are. Also Xero wrote the Sahloknir fight and I cleaned up a bit so thank you.**

* * *

Rocks scattered on the cobblestone road as Epona galloped towards Kynesgrove, Link checking his supplies as he self consciously directed his horse towards the intended destination. He supposed he had a lot to think about, whether it was his new destiny, who he was now, the new powers he possessed or the fact that seemingly all of his gear was scattered across Skyrim. The Hylian had to admit that he was rather annoyed about that, although he had had to find everything back home as well. Still, one thing worried him, and that was the fate of the Master Sword.

Said sword was... _renowned_ , for lack of a better word. It was known by many names, some of which had been lost to time; the Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane, Evil's Bane, but there was one name that was most renowned of them all - Demonslayer. The name had come up in the old legends many times, and it was said that only the named runes would appear for those who were most worthy. Such as Link.

As the Hero of Twilight looked down at the bare sword scabbard hanging from his belt, he recalled first drawing the sword it had housed from its pedestal, and how he had felt as if he had finally earned the title of 'Hero'.

His thoughts were interrupted by something whistling through the air and sinking into Epona's right shoulder, causing the horse to fall forwards onto her knees. Link only got to look at the arrow for a second before another one just missed his head and he looked up, only to see an orc standing ten feet away, trying to restring his bow. Fourteen more bandits of various genders and races were standing near the orc, who had given up on his bow and was now holding a war hammer in both hands.

Link didn't say anything, but merely drew a dagger, slashed at the saddle, then got up as it fell to the ground beneath Epona. He then drew the ice dagger and started walking forwards, not stopping until he stood two feet from the orc.

"Well? You gonna say something before we kill you?" The orc leaned on his war hammer as the other fourteen bandits closed in.

"I only have one thing to say to you. No one hurts my horse and lives to tell about it." A second passed, then Link turned and threw the two daggers like boomerangs before he backflipped over an Argonian and caught the daggers as they flew back to him, two bandits dropping to the ground as he did so.

The orc stood there for a moment, roared, then charged at him, war hammer held high.

Link smirked as he put away the daggers, then drew Numinex's Bane and the Elven Shield, waited until the orc was right in front of him, then took a step back, leapt into the air, and swung the sword. A shockwave of energy arced away from the sword and at the orc, who had no way to dodge the attack. The orc flew backwards, roaring curses as he hit four bandits before landing on the ground ten feet away. The four bandits the orc had hit had been knocked out, and therefore weren't a problem at the moment, however, there were still nine left, including the orc.

As the orc was getting up, the remaining eight bandits surrounded Link, who unhitched the Fire Rod from his knapsack and primed it before aiming it at the four in front of him. When they didn't back away, he fired the weapon, a column of fire roaring over the four bandits. While they were preoccupied, Link turned just in time to block an arrow with his shield, then another attack with the staff, then fired it again at two bandits.

For the final two, Link decided to do something different. he hooked the Fire Rod to his shield, then held out the sword, waited, then spun in a circle, the blade cutting through the air and then something solid. When Link stopped spinning, he was facing the orc who was not even two feet away, Numinex's Bane soaked with blood.

The orc raised his war hammer and swung, but Link blocked it with his shield, knocked the war hammer from the orc's hands with the sword pommel, then knocked him to the ground with a kick to the legs. The Hylian then walked up to the downed orc, wiped the blade clean on the orc's cloak, looked down at the war hammer, then sheathed the sword, effortlessly picked up the war hammer, then swung.

Link walked away from the dead bandits and up to Epona, then knelt beside her, examining the arrow in her shoulder. He then, after thinking about it and finding no other options, pulled the arrow out as cleanly and swiftly as possible. As the mare brayed and moved away from Link, he waited until she seemed calm enough, then cast Healing Hands on Epona. The wound seemed to heal, but there was now the problem of the saddle being unuseable, since Link had cut it in the first place to avoid Epona getting caught on something if she had managed to get up and run away.

Fortunately, he hadn't had a use for the saddlebags yet, so he left the saddle where it was and eventually got Epona standing, then looked off in the distance, down the cobblestone road. Link stood there in silence, holding the mare by the reins as he checked her wound to find that it was fine, although there was a small scar. "I obviously can't ride you like this, or maybe I can. I don't want to risk it though, but we're pressed for time as it is..."

Epona tossed her head as she nickered and pawed the ground with a hoof, while Link looked back at the road, debating on what to do. ' _Let's see, I have no idea how much father it is to Kynesgrove, I'd rather ride Epona, but I don't know if she can carry me, even if her wound seems to be healed.'_

He realized he had been absentmindedly scratching the side of his face and he stopped, noting that it now felt irritated. _'Something must have bit me at some point.'_

He dropped his free hand to his side and looked back at Epona, who eyed him for a moment before tossing her head again. "I suppose I can't ride you the rest of the way, right?"

Link didn't receive an answer, and, after a moment, simply sighed and shook his head, then looked back up towards the road before smiling. "Far it, we'll walk. I hope it won't take more than an hour." He gently tugged on Epona's reins and the two began the hopefully short walk to Kynesgrove.

* * *

It turned out to be three hours of simply walking up the cobblestone road. Once Link eventually reached Kynesgrove, he noticed people running towards the opposite direction of his. One stopped when they saw him approaching, "No, you don't want to go up there!", the woman pointed towards the nearby hill. "A dragon... it's attacking!"

"Where is this dragon?"

"It flew over the town and landed on the old dragon burial mound. I don't know what it's doing up there, but I'm not waiting around to find out!" The woman ran past him and Link looked up towards the dragon mound, told Epona to hide, let go of her reins, stayed long enough to see her gallop down the hill, then started to run towards the burial mound, drawing Numinex's Bane as he did so.

As soon as Link neared the dragon burial mound, he saw Delphine hiding behind a boulder and she motioned him to walk over to her. He did so, then Delphine pulled him behind said boulder and told Link to hide. Link risked looking over the boulder and saw a massive dragon hovering over the burial mound, the same one that had attacked Helgen. It then spoke.

"Sahloknir! Ziil gro dovah ulse!" (Sahloknir, ever-bound dragon spirit!)

Delphine shook her head. "Lorkhan's eyes! Look at that big bastard! Keep your head down, let's see what it does."

The dragon continued to speak as it hovered over the burial mound. "Sahloknir! Ziil gro dovah ulse!" The black dragon repeated, then took a deep breath. _**"Slen Tiid Vo!"**_ A wave left the dragons maw and hit the burial mound. (Sahloknir, ever-bound dragon spirit!) (Body Time Undo)

Link started to move from behind the boulder but Delphine pulled him back. "Steady. I don't know what's happening. Let's watch and wait. This is worse than I thought..."

A skeletal dragon burst from the burial mound and raised its head up towards the massive black dragon. As Link and Delphine watched, the black dragon somehow started to bring the dead dragon back to life, as flesh and scales began to form over the skeleton.

"Alduin, thuri! Boaan tiid vokriiha suleysksejun kruziik?" (Alduin, my Overlord! Has the time come to restore your ancient dominion?) The now revived dragon seemed to ask as it looked up to the larger dragon.

The massive black dragon nodded his horned head. "Geh, Sahloknir, kaali mir." (Yes, Sahloknir, my loyal champion.)

The two dragons moved their heads to gaze down at Link, as if they always knew he was there and only now decided to pay any attention to him. Link stood up from behind the boulder and stepped into view, Alduin moving to face him.

"Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi." (So, you're Dragonborn? I see nothing from dragonkind of you.)

At seeing the look of confusion on Link's face, the dragon growled. "You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah." Alduin looked back at the other dragon. "Sahloknir, krii daar joorre." (Sahloknir, kill these mortals) He said in a low, ominous tone

As the black dragon rose higher into the air, the newly risen dragon flew into the air, looking down at Link as he did so. "I am Sahloknir! Hear my Voice and despair!, Dovahkiin, your Voice is no match for mine!" He roared.

Link pulled his sword out as the dragon dived towards him, then ran forward and ducked under the dragon as he slashed the beast's stomach. Sahloknir roared in pain as he landed on the ground.

" _ **SU… GRAH DUN!"**_

Link didn't expect that Sahloknir would start slashing his wings towards him at a speed that should have been impossible for his size. He barely had time to block before he was thrown backward by the blow.

Sahloknir got distracted by an arrow hitting him on the neck from Delphine, giving Link just enough time to shoot flames from his hands at the dragon.

Sahloknir roared before flying up. The Dragon kept going up and up until there was nothing visible of him in the clouds of the night sky.

Link took his bow out after putting away his shield and sword, both him and Delphine looking at the clouds looking for where the dragon could be.

Suddenly a huge shape came out of the clouds with high speed, racing towards them like a cannon. " _ **WULD... NAH KEST!"**_ Taking advantage of the surprise, he shouted to gain even more speed and dived towards them.

Link was suddenly hit by the legs of the dragon and was tossed backward and into a boulder. That hurt even more than the first time he experienced receiving the Unrelenting Force by the Draugr Overlord. He took out a Health Potion and drank it quickly before getting up after hooking his bow to his shield, seeing that Sahloknir was once again nowhere to be found.

The dragon dived down from the clouds again " _ **WULD... NAH KEST!"**_

This time Link was prepared. " _ **WULD!"**_ He shouted and got out of the way of the claws.

Sahloknir did a spin in the air and landed on the ground, causing the earth to quake and making a small crater. He climbed out and started moving towards Link. "Impressive, You learn fast and are quick on your feet," He said in a calm tone, "but no one is as fast as me!" He roared. " _ **SU… GRAH DUN! WULD!"**_

Link barely had the time to draw and use his sword and shield for melee fighting as the dragon attacked him with a fury of wing slashes and bites. Even with his fast reaction time, he was still on the defense, and Delphine's arrows didn't seem to distract or even bother the dragon.

Delphine took her sword out and attacked the Dragon from behind, but it seemed that just like Link, she had difficulty as the dragon also attacked with his tail.

Soon, it seemed that the effect of the Shout wore off, and the two took advantage of it and started attacking with all they had.

Link ran to Sahloknir's side and tried his first complete Shout. " _ **FUS… RO DAH!"**_ The power of the shout dragged the dragon away and into his burial mound and staggered him. Link then took out his Fire Rod and sent a barrage of flames down at the dragon.

Sahloknir roared before flying up to the sky and disappearing into the clouds once again.

After a long wait, Sahloknir dived down from the clouds, Link pointed the Fire Rod and shot three fireballs at the dragon.

Sahloknir dodged the first two but the third hit him in the face. The dragon stopped his dive.

" _ **FUS… RO DAH!"**_ Link Shouted. The Shout hit the dragon in the chest and staggered him while Delphine kept shooting arrows from her bow at the dragon.

Sahloknir flew high up and dived down towards Link. " _ **SU, GRAH! WULD... NAH KEST!"**_ and grabbed Link by the shoulder with his leg claw and tossed him into a tree.

Link, however, managed to avoid hitting said tree, instead landing in its upper branches. After eyeing Sahloknir, he took out one of the two Clawshots after sheathing Numinex's Bane in its scabbard and shot a lower branch with it, then started climbing down the tree with the assistance of the Clawshot. Once he was low enough, he let go and landed safely on the ground, holding his hurt shoulder.

He looked up at the sky and saw Sahloknir once again was invisible in the clouds. This was getting nowhere, Sahloknir was both stronger and much smarter than every dragon Link fought so far, not to mention faster.

While remembering his previous fights, he got an idea and looked down at the Clawshot in his hand. ' _I hope this works, because it worked against_ _Argorok. Then again, I used both and now I'm using only one. Shouldn't make a difference though.'_

He ran to the middle of the clearing and looked up at the sky. If he didn't get the timing right, this could end badly.

He managed to find Sahloknir as he dived down from the clouds. ' _Wait for it...'_ With five words like before the dragon's speed increased ' _Wait for it...'_ Claws opened for grabbing the boy ' _Not now...'_ the distance between them decreased much more. ' _Now!'_ " _ **WULD!"**_

As Link moved forward while Sahloknir swiped where Link used to be, he pointed the Clawshot at the dragon's back and shot.

The claw grabbed a fin and the chain pulled Link on the dragon's back.

Sahloknir reared as he kept flying and started to move upwards. "Foolish Joor! You think you can ride on my back?!" (Mortal)

Link held on with his life while they went up higher and higher, the cold temperature of the air dropping even lower. Link was thankful that he was wearing the necklace that he enchanted, otherwise he might have frozen from the air, although it didn't help him from feeling light-headed. Even still, he held on. He took Dawn out and started stabbing the dragon, but all the movement from Saklokir made it really hard.

Eventually, Sahloknir stopped going upward and changed his direction to the north "Still you persist, let us see how you react to this!" He started spinning in the air really fast.

Link was holding on with all his strength, but the moisture from the clouds made the scales slippery, and the fins that he was holding on slipped out of his grasp as he started falling down.

Not giving up, he returned Dawn to its scabbard, pointed the Clawshot at the dragon, and shot the right hind leg. Once the claw grabbed the leg, he shouted. " _ **WULD!"**_ and swung back on the dragon's back.

Taking the roar of fury, Link swung the chain of the Clawshot to get it into Saklokir's maw, but he missed and it swung around the dragon's neck. He grabbed the claw at the other end and pulled on the chains.

Sahloknir was beyond furious. " _ **SU… GRAH DUN! WULD... NAH KEST!"**_ and started spinning and flying around with high speed and maneuvering around at hard angles.

Link held on with all his might and looked down at Sahlokir's head " _ **FUS… RO DAH!"**_ He sent the full power of the Unrelenting Force on the dragon's head and staggered him. Taking advantage of the situation, he took both ends of the makeshift reins in one hand, then drew his sword with his free hand and stabbed Sahlokir's shoulder.

It seemed that even while not very effective he caused great pain as the dragon roared and started diving down.

Link looked down and to his horror, they were above what looked like a city. He tried to pull on the chains to maneuver away but it seemed to not do much.

He could only watch as the city got closer and closer until he could make out the steps leading to what looked like a palace.

 _ **BOOM!**_

While experiencing great pain, the last thing Link could make out before he passed out was the embers rising from Sahloknir, and from up the stairs, a familiar man looking down at him with a crowd gathering around the fallen dragon as the darkness took him away.


End file.
